Fire Emblem: Shadow of Sauron
by Smeef
Summary: With the destruction of the One Ring, Sauron and his armies fell. Middle-earth found peace for many centuries, but one man's soul never found peace after the death of the Black Hand. Untold centuries later, the memories of Middle-earth's stories and races faded to tales that precious few remembered. Taking a long break from this story to work out some things. (ON HIATUS)
1. Prologue

**What if…centuries after the events of the Return of the King, Sauron, Elves, Dwarves, and even Hobbits and the Rings of Power were forgotten? Their exploits ravaged by the passing of time, all but a precious few still remembered the history of what was once called Middle-Earth. Even the deeds of many famous figures were forgotten such as Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, Legolas, Gandalf, and even Sauron's army's worst nightmare, the Gravewalker.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own either Fire Emblem or Shadows of Mordor. Fire Emblem is the property of Nintendo's Intelligent Systems, and Shadows of Mordor is the property of Monolith Productions and Warner Bros; with the world belonging to J. R. R. Tolkien (Bless his soul).**

 **Prologue:**

 _Night had fallen on the plains of Sacae. Many of the youth of the Lorca tribe gather around the fire in front of the chieftain's tent, while the children's parents would get ready for the night._

The youth of the Lorca giddily gathered around the chieftain's campfire, quietly cheering when Chief Hassar stepped out from his tent. Just behind him stood his wife, holding the hand of their six-year old daughter, Lyn.

Hassar sat down and smiled at the children. "What story would you like to hear tonight?" he asked the kids.

A short clamor of voices requested many stories, but none of the children could agree on any one story, leaving Hassar to quiet the children. "Since we cannot agree on a story, how about I tell one of my favorites from my youth?" he suggested.

One of the boys closest to Hassar snickered. "You had a youth, Chieftain?" He said, getting some of the children giggling at their chieftain being called old.

Hassar smiled at the kids' laughter, even if it was at his expense, and laughed along. "Yes, I had a youth. It was just many, many years ago," He looked at the children one more time and said, "You have all grown so much. I believe that it is time that you hear one of the most popular stories among our older members. Who wants to hear about the Gravewalker?"

Despite the enticing name, none of the children had heard of the Gravewalker before. "Who's that?" a young girl asked.

"You will find out tonight. The Gravewalker was one of the most powerful opponents to Sauron's power during the days of his final defeat."

The kids around the fire looked around in slight apprehension. They had noticed that over the years of listening to Hassar's stories, the battles and hardships in the stories had gotten more detailed.

"So…what's the story about?" a boy asked.

"The Gravewalker started life as a Ranger of Gondor by the name of Talion. Talion was posted to the Black Gate as punishment for accidentally killing a nobleman of Gondor. His family moved to the Black Gate, and they stayed there for years, with Talion's son, Dirhael, was close to becoming a Ranger as well."

Some of the children felt excited about this story, but something felt different about this story. Usually, Hassar speaks happily when telling stories, but his tone had a forlorn feel to it. They remembered that the Black Gate was an ancient structure that sat on the border between the long-gone nations of Gondor and Mordor. It had been untold centuries since the true defeat of Sauron, with history turning into stories, then legends, and then tales that few had ever heard. The Lorca were one of the few groups in the world that still remembered the history of ancient Middle-Earth as vividly as a book.

"Dirhael was close to finishing his Ranger training when the Black Gate was attacked by the servants of Sauron. The defenders on the Black Gate were quickly overwhelmed by the swift attack, allowing Sauron's armies to once more reclaim Mordor with no resistance."

Even as the children found themselves absorbed in the story, some of the older Lorca decided to stand nearby and listen in.

"All of the people stationed on the Black Gate were killed, including Talion, Dirhael, and his wife, Ioreth."

The children looked at each other and started asking confused questions. "That's it? Talion died? Just like that? Why tell us this?"

Hassar and the older Lorca smiled knowingly and waited for the youths to quiet down.

"Talion's story does not end there, children. Due to being one of the strongest and most skilled Rangers at the Black Gate, Talion and his family were chosen for a sacrificial ritual. Three of Sauron's most powerful servants, the Black Captains, attempted a ritual to summon a powerful Wraith as a precaution in the event that the One Ring was destroyed."

The children's eyes widened as Hassar mentioned names that they had never heard of. They knew that Sauron had powerful servants, but they had never heard of these three.

"Talion, Dirhael, and Ioreth all died that fateful night; but something happened that the Black Captains did not anticipate…Vengeance."

The children all looked at Hassar in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"The Wraith that they attempted to summon was no ordinary spirit. They attempted to summon the Ring-maker, Celebrimbor—greatest smith of the Second Age. He forged the Rings of Power, but opposed Sauron's will when the Elves discovered Sauron's true intentions."

Hassar looked at the sky and slowly exhaled. "It seems that it will soon be time for you to sleep, children. Go to your families, and I will continue Talion's story tomorrow night. His tale is a sad, yet intriguing story."

Some of the children voiced their chagrin at having their story cut off, but it was getting rather late. They stood up and went to turn in for the night—looking forward to the next story.

Hassar and his family went into their tent and got ready for bed. Hassar watched as his wife put their daughter down in her bed and kissed her goodnight. Hassar laid down on his bedroll, and waited for his wife to lie down next to him.

"I love you, honey." Hassar said happily.

"I love you too, Hassar."

The two shared a deep kiss and then went to sleep, the two of them anticipating what the next day would bring.

The very next day, the Lorca tribe woke up early in the morning, with many of them quickly getting ready for the day. One such Lorca was a boy that had recently turned thirteen. This boy has jet-black hair, and amethyst-colored eyes that shone with a burning passion for all. One of the many things he liked doing in the morning was to find a new way to wake up his sister. Another of his favorite things was to eat and then play with the other kids of the tribe. As time passes, however, things change for people. They get older, gain more responsibilities, learn more about the world. Yet amidst the uncertainty of age, comes new opportunities.

Galomir decided to give his sister a break from rude awakenings and quickly ate, dressed himself, and left his family's tent. He was beyond excited for today, since it would be his first true day of training.

 _I can't wait to start training to be a warrior! I'm gonna be just like—no, better than my dad!_ he thought, feeling himself getting more and more pumped with each step toward the training grounds.

Passing by some of his friends, Galomir felt a slight conflict. He wondered if he should just decline and head on his way, tell his friends what he's about to do, or just keep walking. Either way, he knew he couldn't afford too much time to play with them; and he knew that 'just a few minutes' would quickly eat up more time than he bargained for.

"Hey, Galomir! Wanna play?" one of the kids asked.

"Sorry. I have something to do right now." replied Galomir.

"Aw come on, it's probably not that important anyway!" the kid retorted, walking over to Galomir.

Galomir shook his head. "It's important."

"Aw…Well, when you have time, you know where to find us!" the kid said, waving at Galomir.

He nodded, waved his friends good-bye, and kept heading toward where he was supposed to get his training. As his friends watched him leave, one of them said, "Hey, isn't he heading for the training grounds?"

"Wonder why he's going there? We kids aren't allowed there since we might get hurt."

"Probably to talk to his dad or something."

When Galomir reached the training grounds, his eyes slowly widened in awe. There were twenty-five people spread throughout the training grounds. Some were sparring with wooden sticks, and the others were standing by, waiting for their turns.

Galomir looked around, searching for his dad, but he didn't see anyone he easily recognized. _Where's dad?_ he thought.

"Hey, kid, you shouldn't be here. You could get hurt." one of the men waiting around said.

"I'm here for training, actually." Galomir said sheepishly.

"Oh? And who told you that you could do that?" the man asked.

"My dad."

"Who's your father?" the man asked.

"Kuru."

Realization dawned on the man's face as he nodded. "You're Kuru's son?…I can see the resemblance now. Your dad's with Hassar right now. They'll be back soon."

Galomir was slightly disappointed, but shrugged. "Is there anything I can do before I start?"

"You could fetch us some water until your father gets back; goodness knows we could use some." the man said.

Seeing nothing else to do, Galomir said, "I'll go get some. How many cups?"

"Just get a big bucket of water; we've got water skins here."

Galomir left the training grounds, returning a few minutes later with a large bucket of water that he was struggling to carry.

Many of the men that were training looked at the boy, slightly impressed by how dedicated he was to getting some water, while others were touched. _Looks like we have some kids that are still compassionate._ they thought.

"Hey! Who told you maggots to take a water break?" a voice boomed, startling everyone on the field.

Galomir recoiled on hearing the voice that yelled at all these men. He recognized it, yet it was completely foreign to him.

He looked to where everyone else was looking and saw Hassar and his dad walking toward them. _That was dad that yelled?_ he thought in surprise. He had never heard his father yell like that before.

As Hassar and Kuru approached the men, Galomir felt that something was not quite right. The older men seemed to be much calmer than the younger ones—with a few of them even smiling as if humored.

The men quickly lined up side-by-side, and waited for whatever Kuru had in mind.

"Who told you that you could have water, and who gave it to you?" Kuru demanded, looking at one of the men.

"I-I don't know! Someone came by with a big bucket of water and some water flasks, and we were really thirsty, and we couldn't help ourselves!" the man replied nervously, as if expecting some sort of punishment.

Galomir watched in total shock as Kuru picked up a training sword and hit the man's face with it. This was his fault! If he hadn't brought the water to the warriors, then this poor man would not be getting beaten by Kuru. He nervously swallowed and said, "Dad, it was me!"

Kuru's practice sword was only inches away from hitting the man's face a second time when Galomir's voice stilled him. He looked in the direction of Galomir's voice, but the line of men hid him.

"Galomir? Was that you?" Kuru asked.

Galomir risked leaning out from the line to look at his father. "Yes, sir."

Kuru walked past the rest of the men, and approached Galomir. "So you were the one who have them water?"

Galomir felt his voice lodge itself in his throat, but found it seconds later. "Yes, sir."

Kuru crouched down to look Galomir in the eye. "I'm assuming that you didn't know?"

"Yes, sir."

"Son, I hate to say this, but ignorance is no excuse as a warrior. The rules are that no one is allowed to have water until we say so; and you gave water to them. I cannot let this slip by just because you are my son."

Galomir looked down in shame. His first day of training and he already broke what sounded like a big rule.

"Which is why you passed!" Kuru said proudly.

Galomir looked back up at his dad in utter confusion. _What? Passed? Huh?_ he thought. "What?"

"You passed the first test." Kuru stated.

"What test?"

Kuru patted Galomir's shoulder and smiled. "Everyone here had to take this test when they first started. We call it the Test of Compassion."

Realization dawned on Galomir's face. "Ohhh…You wanted to see if I would care about people I don't know before you would train me."

Kuru stood up and handed his practice sword to Galomir. "You passed the test, showing that you will at the help people and admit to it, even if it would get you into potential trouble. Just remember that not everyone that puts on a friendly smile and attitude has the best of intentions."

Galomir nodded. "Can we start my training now?"

Kuru smiled at his son. "Of course, son." _I am so proud of you._ he thought as he picked up another practice sword and took a stance, waiting for Galomir to do the same.

Galomir assumed a stance, wondering what his first official lesson would be. He slowly grew apprehensive as his father stared at him. _Uh-oh. Did I mess up?_ He tried to slowly adjust his stance, looking uncertain if his new stance was any better.

Seeing the discomfort on his son's face, Kuru spoke up. "You are probably thinking that you messed up, and you are doubting yourself for it."

Galomir's eyes looked up into his father's. "How…?"

"Your expression and body language gave it away."

"My expression? How?"

"Son, a master swordsman is able to tell everything about another man just by looking at him."

Galomir pondered what his dad said, but found it odd. "How does that work?"

Kuru smirked and walked over to Galomir. "Let us work on your stance."

Galomir hesitated, but took the stance he first used.

Kuru walked around Galomir, examining every little part of the stance. "Oh dear. I can count at least ten ways to disarm you, fifteen ways to knock you off balance, and thirty-six ways to outright kill you, son."

"That bad?"

"It's not as bad as you think. With a few small adjustments, I can easily reduce it to four ways to disarm you, eight ways to knock you off balance, and eighteen ways to kill you." Kuru said nonchalantly, making small adjustments to Galomir's stance.

"Plant your feet further apart, pull your shoulders back a little bit, lower your head a little, and angle your arms in a way that would allow you to easily use your sword for offense or defense," Kuru said, walking away from Galomir when he was done. "Much better. Now, make sure you master this stance, for it will be your foundation for training. If you neglect to master your stance, you _will_ fall in battle."

Galomir swallowed nervously at the thought of dying and said, "I will learn this stance, dad, don't you worry about that."

"Good."

The rest of the day went by quickly for Galomir. He lost himself in every word that his father told him about the art of swordsmanship. As the months went by, Galomir could tell that his body was adapting to his sudden change in lifestyle. He grew leaner, yet his muscles thickened, giving him a nimble, yet tough, appearance.

One day, Kuru opted to simply watch the training, and take a chance to speak with Hassar.

After greeting each other, Hassar and Kuru walked to the edges of the training ground—far enough to not be bothered by the trainees, but close enough to make sure they don't slack off while they were talking.

"The new batch of trainees is coming along nicely." Hassar said.

Kuru nodded. "Indeed they are."

Hassar and Kuru watched as the trainees sparred with one another. As they watched, they saw Galomir sparring with a trainee not much older than him.

"It must be hard for him to find a suitable partner." Hassar said, gesturing to Kuru's son.

"He'll manage."

"He is progressing very quickly. He'll be done with the training in a few short years, I reckon." Hassar commented.

Kuru sighed and lowered his head. "About that…"

Hassar looked at his friend. "Yes?"

Kuru shook his head and shrugged. "It's nothing."

"It's always something with you when you say 'it's nothing,' so what's the nothing?" Hassar said, turning to give Kuru his full attention.

Kuru hesitated but looked at Hassar in the eye. "I want to give Galomir Ranger training."

Hassar slowly raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "Ranger training? Kuru, you know that we don't have all the materials to truly train someone in the old ways."

"But what little we have has made some of our finest warriors. I'm living proof that even a little Ranger training can make someone a deadly fighter." Kuru replied.

Hassar slowly shook his head. "Kuru, I know that passing on what you have learned is extremely important to you…I just want to know that you aren't doing this because he's your son."

Kuru nodded.

"Look me in the eyes, and tell me that you aren't doing this just because he's your son."

Kuru looked at Hassar and said what he was told. "I'm not doing this just because Galomir in my son."

"…Fine. One one condition."

"And that is?" Kuru asked.

Galomir has to pass the same training as everyone else _before_ you start to train him."

"Deal."

Kuru and Hassar shook hands and nodded at each other.

"You won't regret this, Hassar."

"I know."

 **Six Years later:**

Galomir took a stance and beckoned for his opponent to make the first most. His foe lunged at his left side, but Galomir deftly blocked it, preparing for a counter-attack, but had to dodge another jab at his left side.

As he fought his opponent, his father's voice sounded in his mind. _"Galomir, remember, while we must be honorable warriors, there is no shame or dishonor in retreating or in fighting dirty. Do not be afraid to move in a way that would not be allowed in controlled sparring."_

Galomir and his opponent exchanged multiple blows, with neither gaining or losing an advantage in the fight.

Seeing that this battle of attrition was going nowhere, Galomir pulled away. With precious seconds between him and his foe, Galomir took the chance to scoop some dirt into his hands. Satisfied that his enemy did not see what he had done, he charged back swinging his sword with one hand, throwing the dirt with his other.

"Agh! My eyes!" his opponent yelled.

Galomir's opponent tried to back away from him, but the now nineteen-year old Lorca rammed his right shoulder into him, knocking the man down onto the ground.

Galomir quickly crouched down next to his foe and put his sword to his opponent's neck, physically declaring himself the winner.

"I win." he said. He stood up and offered his hand to the man he defeated.

"Great job, Galomir. Haven't been beaten like that in some time." Galomir's opponent said, taking the younger boy's hand.

"What's next?" Galomir asked.

Kuru smiled at his son. "There is much to be done, son. Let's get started."

As the day came to a close, Galomir found himself wandering back to Hassar's tent; wondering if his chieftain had another story for tonight. He smiled to himself when he saw Hassar step out of the tent to sit in front of the small fire.

Since Galomir was no longer considered a child, he decided to hang near the back. He found a small fence post to lean on, and waited for Hassar to begin.

"Tell us a story, chieftain!" one of the children said excitedly.

"I will do better. I will tell you about history; about real events that happened long, long ago," Hassar said. "I shall continue the story of Talion of Gondor. Does anyone remember where I left off?"

Galomir couldn't help but raise his hand.

"Yes, Galomir?"

"You said that Talion was somehow bound to Celebrimbor, the Ring-maker."

Hassar nodded and looked at all of the children. "Ah yes…Talion and his family were killed during Sauron's reclamation of Mordor. However, Talion was—as Galomir said—bound to the spirit of Celebrimbor. With Talion now being 'banished from death,' he had the ability to oppose Sauron's armies within Mordor. He spent many years killing off the officers of Sauron's armies until they discovered a small resistance force in Mordor: the Outcasts of Udûn. Talion found a friend in a former comrade of his, and they worked on finding new ways to oppose the armies of the Dark Lord."

Galomir smiled on seeing the children become entwined with the story they were being told. _Who can blame them? A man that cannot die, fighting Uruks with no fear, sounds like quite the hero._ he thought.

"With the aid of the Outcasts, Talion was able to find many ways to disrupt Sauron's forces: killing entire fortresses of Uruks, manipulating power vacuums after the loss of Uruk leaders, and freeing as many slaves as possible. Over time, Talion gained a reputation among both Men and the Uruks for being able to come back from the dead. As what would happen to many, the Uruk hordes would prove too much for one man, and killed Talion, only for him to back for revenge against the Uruk that killed him. This was the beginning of his reputation as the Gravewalker; a man that could die time and time again, yet always come back. Over time, Talion and the Outcasts managed to secure a symbolic victory in destroying a monument to Sauron. As a result, Talion's victory enraged one of Sauron's Black Captains: the Hammer of Sauron. The battle was fierce, but Talion managed to kill the Hammer. In the aftermath of the battle, Talion was invited to head for the coasts of Núrnen by Queen Marwen of Nurn. It was there that Talion became worthy of his reputation by learning how to control the armies of Sauron, planting even more fear in the hearts of his dark servants."

"After aiding the people of Nurn with escaping their conquered homeland, Talion located another of the Dark Captains: the Tower of Sauron. Our tribe has long forgotten the details of this battle, as well as Talion's final encounter with the Black Hand. His legends focus more on his deeds and victories, than they do getting the full story down."

As Hassar told the story, Galomir slowly felt his eyes fluttering shut. _I should probably go. I've had a long, tiring day._ He pushed himself away from the fence post and made his way to his tent. He walked through the tent flaps and smiled on seeing his entire family.

Kaolin walked up to Galomir and gave him a hug. "Dad said you did really good today in training! How was it? Was it hard? Do you wanna do it again?" she said in excitement.

Galomir blinked at Kaolin's rapid questions and said, "Uh…good to hear that; it was good; it wasn't too hard; and I'm going to be a warrior, so I have to keep doing it."

Kaolin smiled and let go of Galomir. Galomir stretched his back and yawned. "I'm tired, so I think I'll turn in early for the night."

Galomir crawled into his bedroll and sleep claimed him much faster than usual.

 **And that is the end the prologue. I have a feeling that OCs aren't the most popular thing in the FE community, but I will do my best to now make Galomir or any other OCs that I have planned to be too OP (will be a little hard do pull off when it comes to some of the things I have planned). Anyways, feel free to tell me what you think of this, as well as any ways to improve things such as grammar and story writing, and if you must, a flame or two won't hurt my feelings (I'm probably gonna get flooded with flames from now on…crap). I'm trying to get a feel for my new schedule, so don't expect too much of a timeline for chapters for a while, but I plan on not ditching this story for quite some time. As long as I follow the general plot, most things should go by rather smoothly; It's gonna be my own plot points that I'm gonna be worried about…**

 **See ya later.**


	2. Chapter 1

**I'm back with the first official chapter of Shadow of Sauron.**

 **Because I'm sure that you guys want to get on with the story, I'll just tell you what happens before the events of FE7. Galomir is six years older than Lyn, so you won't have to worry about me hooking them up. Also, I will be using the character ages from the American version, so Lyn will be eighteen years at the start of the official story. I will try to stick with the American version as much as possible, since I get the feeling it will mostly be people that have played the English version that will be reading this. If you prefer a different version, you can just go with the character ages in your preferred version.**

 **Anyway, since I didn't really have anything planned between the prologue and the first chapter, I'll just tell you what Galomir and a few others do over this time. Here goes:**

 **Just as Hassar predicted, Galomir quickly finishes his training in only five years, only to be giving Gondorian Ranger training by his father for the next seven years.**

 **Kaolin trains to become a hunter for the tribe, eventually falling in love with a fellow hunter named Hinto. The two keep their love a secret from everyone; but Lyn accidentally discovers their relationship and, after much persuasion, agrees to keep quiet.**

 **During to a deathly cold winter, Galomir's mother succumbs to the cold, shattering Kuru's will to live for a long time, making Kaolin retreat into a shell only Lyn, Galomir, and Hinto could break through, and changing Galomir's perspective on life and death.**

 **I hope that I did okay with the prologue, and that Galomir isn't/won't too bad of a character. I do hope that you enjoy this chapter, and even if you didn't I hope that you have a great day.**

 **I don't own either Fire Emblem or Shadow of Mordor. Fire Emblem is the property of Nintendo's Intelligent Systems, and Shadow of Mordor is the property of Monolith Productions and Warner Bros; with the world and lore belonging to J. R. R. Tolkien (Bless his soul).**

 **Chapter 1: Stern is the Spirit**

 _Nearly twelve years have passed since Galomir turned began his training. As he nears the completion of his Ranger training, something terrible happens._

A large buck gracefully walked through the forest. As the buck lowered his head to a small pile of berries on the ground, an arrow flew toward him, piercing his chest. The buck tried to run, but the arrow had already taken a lot of blood, and had more than likely either pierced a lung or his heart. The majestic creature took a few more steps and stumbled, causing him to fall to the ground, his last breath inevitable.

Two people approached the dying buck, one was a twenty-year old woman with a bow in her hand, and the other was a man with various hunting tools in his hands.

"Good job Kaolin. He didn't see you; he didn't smell you; he didn't hear you…It was a clean kill. You should be proud of yourself."

The girl smiled at the praise. "Thank you, Hinto."

Hinto patted Kaolin's shoulder. "No. Thank you, Kaolin," Kaolin looked down at Hinto's other hand to see a traditional hunting knife with the handle being held toward her. "You're a hunter now, Kaolin."

Kaolin felt her jaw gape open. "Really?!" she managed to say.

Hinto smiled. "Of course, love."

Kaolin wrapped her arms around Hinto's neck, barely resisting the urge to kiss him. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

Hinto gently pulled away from the hug. "Hold on there, Kaolin. You just passed the final test is all. Your brother didn't react like this when he passed the first half of his training."

Kaolin smiled. "That was because he had already worn himself out telling me and Mom about it. Combined with the fact that he's still training under our dad probably drained some of his excitement."

Hinto put a hand over his chest in mock pain. "Oh! Kaolin, your words sting deep! Surely, Galomir would tell his best friend such news with the same excitement!"

Kaolin smirked and knelt over the deer. "As much as I'd like to talk about how proud I am of my brother, I think we should get our newest catch back to the village before anything smells this bad boy."

Hinto smiled at Kaolin and nodded. "That would be best. Since it was your kill, I'd say it's only fair that you carry it." He said, smirking near the end.

"Pfft! As if! You didn't do much, so _you_ carry it."

Hinto held up one hand, and slowly counted down the things he had done. "Let's see. I found the tracks, I set up the bait, and…I just made you an official hunter."

Kaolin opened her mouth to protest that she was only seconds away from finding the tracks, but realized that she just did the tracking and fired the killing shot. She grumbled a little bit, but went about tying up the deer, and lifting it over her shoulders. "Fine. It's only because you just made me official. Don't get any ideas for the future."

Hinto watched Kaolin prepare the deer, reaching his hand into his pocket and feeling the cool metal of a ring that he had a blacksmith in Bulgar forge for him. _No going back, man. It's now or never._ he thought. He cleared his throat and Kaolin turned around. "Kaolin…Can I give you something else?"

Kaolin stopped what she was doing and walked over to Hinto. "Sure. What is it?"

Hinto quickly swallowed his nerves and knelt down in front of Kaolin, pulling out the ring he wanted to give to her. To her credit, Kaolin seemed pretty calm. "Kaolin, daughter of Kuru, will you marry me?"

Kaolin put a hand over her mouth to cover her gasp, but quickly wrapped her arms around Kuru, tears of joy forming in her eyes. "Yes! Yes! Yes!" Kaolin let go of Hinto and held out her hand to let Hinto slip the ring onto her finger. "It's beautiful, Hinto."

"You're more beautiful than any ring, Kaolin. I want you to know that." Hinto said.

Kaolin and Hinto quietly packed their hunting gear, and made their way for their village.

As they entered the village, some of the other hunters complimented Kaolin on her prize, and on becoming a fully-fledge hunter. Kaolin smiled at and thanked each of them. The two dropped off the deer with the cooks, and went their separate ways.

Kaolin wandered around the village until she saw Hassar's daughter. "Hey, Lyn."

Lyn turned around and smiled on seeing Kaolin. "How'd your hunt go?"

"It was good. The buck didn't know what hit him. Also…" Kaolin showed Lyn the knife that Hinto gave her.

Lyn stared at the knife, looking back at Kaolin in shock. "You're…?"

"A real hunter!" Kaolin exclaimed in excitement.

Lyn pulled Kaolin into a hug. "That's great to to hear, Kaolin!"

Kaolin and Lyn walked around the village, speaking about many things for the next few hours.

 **Lorca Training Grounds:**

"Raaagh!"

Galomir charged toward his father, swinging his sword down as he did; only for Kuru to sidestep the attack, and tap the flat of his blade against his son's backside. Galomir spun around and brought his sword up to clash with Kuru's.

"A perfect swing…for killing chickens." Kuru said with a smirk.

"It is, isn't it?" Galomir replied. He dragged his sword down near the hilt of Kuru's and wrenched the sword out of his father's hands, quickly putting both blades against Kuru. "How's that?"

Kuru stared at the two swords in Galomir's hands. "Very good, Galomir," Galomir lowered both swords, handing one of them back to his father. "You've come a long way, son."

"Thank you, dad."

"You have just one more thing to do before you complete your training." Kuru said.

Galomir put his training sword on a nearby rack, only for another trainee to take it a few seconds later. "And that would be…?"

"Your oath."

Galomir's eyes widened on hearing Kuru's words. "Wha…You mean…I'm done?"

Kuru smiled warmly at his son. "Yes son. You are done," He began to walk away from the training grounds, beckoning to his son to follow him.

Galomir and Kuru walked through the village until they reached Hassar's tent. The two entered and sat down across from Kuru. "Hassar, it is time."

Hassar looked at Kuru and Galomir a few times before nodding and standing up. "Come with me, Galomir." he said as he left the tent.

Galomir looked at Kuru, waiting for him to say something. "…Go ahead, son."

Hassar led Galomir far away from the village into a part of the forest that the younger Lorca did not recognize. "Chieftain, where are we going?"

"To ancient ruins. It is where all Lorca warriors make their oaths to become a Ranger."

"I've…never heard of it." Galomir admitted sheepishly.

"Good. It is to stay that way."

Hassar walked up to what looked to simply be a large boulder; but Galomir quickly noticed that the stone was much too smooth to be naturally made. Hassar rubbed his hand along the stone until a part of it sank inwards. Galomir's jaw went slack on seeing another part of the rock silently rise.

"Amazing, isn't it? For something to have lasted for so many centuries and still work; it is simply…breath-taking. It never ceases to surprise me."

Hassar led Galomir into the hidden fortress to see that it was nowhere near as dark as he was expecting it to be.

"It's…pretty bright in here."

Hassar smirked and continued to walk through the fortress.

As Galomir followed Hassar through the ancient fortress, they reached what looked to be the main room. "This is where every person that completes the Ranger training takes his oath."

Galomir looked around the chamber in awe. "How many people have taken this oath?"

"Not very many," Hassar gently picked up the only sword in the room. "Do you know what this is, Galomir?" he asked.

Galomir looked at Hassar in some confusion. "A sword."

"This isn't just _a_ sword, Galomir; this is Urfael, the weapon that belonged to Talion himself. It has, of course, been reforged time and time again over the centuries, but we've done our best to keep it as close to how it was when the Gravewalker died for the last time."

Galomir looked at the sword in awe. This was the first time he had ever seen something so ancient that he could hold in one hand. "It's a beautiful sword."

Hassar nodded in agreement and twirled the sword before looking back at Galomir. "Galomir, son of Kuru, kneel."

Galomir did as instructed, and kneeled before Hassar.

"Repeat after me." Hassar said. He held the sword just in front of him, with the tip of the sword pressed against the ground. "I, Galomir, son of Kuru, do swear to uphold the protection of light and life."

"I, Galomir, son of Kuru, do swear to uphold the protection of light and life."

Hassar slowly raised Urfael to rest the flat of the blade on Galomir's right shoulder. "I will never draw my blade in anger, nor vengeance, nor greed, nor hatred, nor blood-lust."

"I will never draw my blade in anger, nor, vengeance, nor greed, nor hatred, nor blood-lust.

Hassar lifted Urfael from Galomir's right shoulder and then planted it on his left shoulder. "I will only draw my blade to protect myself, those that I love, and to help the helpless."

"I will only draw my blade to protect myself, those that I love, and to help the helpless."

Hassar lifted Urfael away from Galomir and sheathed it. "I will uphold the virtues of the Rangers of Gondor, and I will never forget the tales of old."

"I will uphold the virtues of the Rangers of Gondor, and I will never forget the tales of old."

Hassar smiled as he could see the conviction in Galomir's eyes with every word. "I will erase the darkness wherever it may hide, and I will bring light in its place."

"I will erase the darkness wherever it may hide, and I will bring light in its place."

Hassar nodded at Galomir and put Urfael back where it once was. "From this day onward, I am no longer Galomir of the Lorca; I am Galen, Ranger of Gondor."

Galomir hesitated on hearing the last part of the oath, but continued. "From this day onward, I am no longer Galomir of the Lorca…I am Galen, Ranger of Gondor."

With his new name, Galen slowly stood up and bowed to Hassar. "Thank you, Chieftain. I will not disappoint you."

"I know you won't."

The newly-named Galen and Hassar left the fortress, and walked through the forest. As they did, a thought came to Galen. "Chieftain, you know that Talion would come back from the dead, right?"

"That is correct, yes."

"Was he truly immortal? Do you think he could still be alive, even today?"

"No. He found his rest. As for his soul, well…Some people have claimed to have seen his soul wandering the world. Personally, I think his exposure to the Ring-Maker turned him into a Wraith as well."

"I see. I wonder how that must have felt—dying for the last time. He seemed to have died enough to gain his name, so he must have been used to coming back from death, only for it to suddenly end one day."

As the two approached their village, Hassar couldn't help but feel that something was wrong. Once they reached the edge of the forest, the two heard sounds that left no doubt in their mind: their home was under attack.

Galen and Hassar quickly ran toward the village. "Galomir, find the women and children and keep them safe! I will rally our warriors!"

"Got it!" Galen replied. He veered away from Hassar, searching for any of the women and children. _Father Sky, Mother Earth, I pray that you help us to endure this night._ he thought.

"Hey!" a rough, accented voice yelled, making Galen stop to look at what he had no idea what to call.

The monster roared at Galen and charged at him, twirling his jagged sword as he did. Galen's eyes widened and he quickly drew his sword and blocked it, briefly trying to figure out what he was looking at.

"I'll 'ave your guts!" the thing yelled.

Galen didn't respond, simply spinning away and cutting deeply into his enemy's stomach. _What on earth was that thing?!_ he thought as the creature fell to the ground, black blood staining the ground beneath it's corpse. _No! Don't think about it! Have to find the others!_ he thought, steeling himself for what was to come.

Galen ran through the village, his heart sinking on seeing only dead bodies. _What kind of monsters could just kill so many people like this?_ he thought in despair.

"Galomir!" A soft voice called out.

The new Ranger looked in the direction of the voice to see his sister. In spite of his better judgement, Galen ran to Kaolin and hugged her. "Kaolin! Are you all right?" he said, beyond thankful that he found at least someone still alive.

Kaolin took in a quivering breath and said, "I wish I could say I was. These…things…they came out of nowhere and just started killing people. I've never seen anything so blood-thirsty before."

Galen tightened his hug around Kaolin and whispered, "It's going to be okay, Kaolin. I'll protect you."

Kaolin shivered, let go of Galen and looked up at him. "Galomir, those things killed Hinto."

Galen felt a sudden void. It was one thing to hear that these things were killing his people, but to hear a specific name was on a whole different level. "…They'll regret that." he growled.

"No! Let's get out of here before they find us!"

"Hassar told me to find the women and children and get them out of here."

Kaolin shook her head. "They killed everyone, Galomir. Dad managed to rally some of the warriors, but I don't think they'll last very long. There's just too many of those monsters."

Galen inwardly cursed, gritting his teeth. "Kaolin, listen closely, I want you to run as far away as you can. Don't stop. If I don't make it…Know that I will watch over you with Father Sky and the others."

"Galomir, don't talk like that."

"Sis, please. Get out of here."

Kaolin nodded and slowly stepped away from Galen, tears slowly forming in her eyes.

"GO!"

With those words being said, Kaolin spun around and began to make a run for the forest. Once he no longer heard his sister's footsteps, Galen took in a deep breath and stepped out into the open.

"'Ey, which one of you fools missed that one?" a voice shouted.

"Surround him! The Captains want survivors!"

 _Captains? Survivors? No, have to focus!_

Galen waited for the creatures to approach him. Once the first monster made an attempt to hit him, it found itself on its back, with the Ranger's sword stabbing deep into its chest seconds later.

"Get 'im!"

Galen spun around to deflect another attack on him, backhanding the creature's face, and cutting clean through it's chest. He barely registered its black blood spurting onto his arms before moving onto the next monster.

"Just hit 'im already! It's one measly tark!"

"Shut up and die!" Galen yelled, cutting down the creature that insulted its fellow monsters.

"Hit him from the sides!" another Orc shouted.

He had no idea how much time he spent slaughtering these creatures; but by the time there was no longer something trying to kill him, Galen saw at least extra fifteen bodies lying on the ground, with a few heads detached from their bodies. Panting heavily, Galen fell to his knees. _Was that all of them?_ he thought. Now having more time to examine the monsters that destroyed his home, Galen came to a horrifying conclusion.

 _These are Orcs…My home was destroyed by Orcs!_ he realized.

Galen heard heavy footsteps approaching and stood up, thinking that perhaps it was one of the warriors. He turned around to see a very tall man with Kaolin standing just in front of him, the edge of a sword pressed against her neck.

"Kaolin!" Galen yelled, drawing his sword.

"Put the sword down, nomad." the man ordered in a calm, yet commanding voice.

Galen glared at the man, but on seeing a small trail of blood flowing down Kaolin's neck, complied with the man's order. He tossed his sword to the side and slowly raised his hands. He glared at an Orc picking up his sword and breaking it. Ignoring the Orc's action, he looked back at the tall man and said, "Please, let her go. She's done nothing to you or your Orcs."

"I'm afraid that we have other uses for you and…Kaolin." the man said.

Galen clenched his fists and snarled at the man.. "If you lay a _finger_ on her, I will cut you to pieces."

"Just as you did those twenty-five Orcs?" the man said, clearly humored by Galen's threat.

 _Twenty-five? I thought that was fifteen!_

"However, the use that we have in mind for your friend is probably not what you're thinking. Such is the perversion of men, I suppose." the man said.

"Just tell us what you want." Galen demanded.

"Blood."

Before he could question the man further, Galen felt a crushing pain in his back, and fell to the ground. He felt an armored foot kick him onto his nearly broken back. He looked up to see another man that was larger and more imposing than the one that was holding Kaolin hostage. Where Kaolin's captor seemed to have a terrifying appearance, this other man's height and size, combined with his armor, added a more menacing feel that promised unbridled pain.

The next thing that Galen felt other than anger was immense pain. He felt the armored man's large mace crash into his stomach and chest enough times for him to be on the verge of unconsciousness.

Before unconsciousness could take him, however, the man that originally had Kaolin grabbed the even larger man's arm, keeping him from hitting Galen again. "Don't kill him. We need him to be alive."

The man with the mace glared at his comrade, and smashed his mace into the palm Galen's right hand. "Aaaaaaagh!"

"He will live." the mace-wielder growled. He removed his mace from Galen's hand and then kicked him hard in the head, knocking out the newly-inducted Ranger.

When Galen came to, he found that his hands were held behind his back by an Orc; and to his horror, he saw Kaolin and an unconscious Kuru held in a similar manner.

"Kaolin! Dad!"

"Galomir! I tried to run, but they were too fast!" Kaolin cried out.

Galen looked around, trying to find a way to get out of this mess, but deep down, he knew that there was no escape.

"So, the keepers of the past have fallen. It seems that we have but one more task to accomplish." a man said.

Galen looked to the left to see a hooded man with disturbingly orange, glowing eyes. The man stood in front of Kuru, a sword in his hand. The man began to chant raising his sword to Kuru's neck. "Ghuramu shirkush' agh azgushu. Zant ya apakurizak. Gül-n anakhizak." By the time the chant ended, the hooded man's sword had completely cut through Kuru's throat.

"Daaaaad!" Galen and Kaolin yelled.

"Please! Just let us go! We have done nothing to you!" Galen yelled.

The hooded man ignored their cries and stepped in front of Kaolin.

"Kaolin! Look at me! It will be okay! It'll be over soon!"

"Ghuramu shirkush' agh azgushu. Zant ya apakurizak. Gül-n anakhizak." the hooded man chanted once more, his blade cutting into Kaolin's throat.

"Noooooo!" Galen roared, struggling against his restraints. He glared at the hooded man and spoke in a deathly low voice. "Listen here. I may not be the one to kill you, but I will smile for eternity on the day you die, you son of a bitch."

The hooded man didn't reply and pressed his sword to Galen's throat. "Ghuramu shirkush' agh azgushu. Zant ya apakurizak. Gül-n anakhizak."

Try as he might, Galen knew that with each inch the sword cut into him, the less chance he had of surviving. The entire time the hooded man slit his throat, Galen kept up his hateful glare. Choking on his own blood, Galen felt the cold embrace of death.

The hooded man glanced at Galen's corpse in disgust, but turned around and looked up at the sky, his arms held out to the sides. "Return to us, Gravewalker."

The man kept his position for a few seconds, but soon growled. "They must not have sufficed for his spirit," he grumbled. He turned to face the two large men and said, "Sword, Shield, we must go before nearby nomads or travelers see the fires."

The respectively named men nodded and walked off, leaving a few Orcs behind.

"Wha' exactly was that supposed to do?" one of the Orcs asked.

"It was _supposed_ to summon the Gravewalker's spirit, and bind him to my will."

"'Ow's that supposed to be a good thing? Last I 'eard, that man was feared by all Orcs back in the day. Why would we want 'is spirit bound to you?"

"To give us the power needed to strengthen us."

The Orc pondered the man's words and nodded. "I don't know 'ow you became one of his servants, but our master must 'ave seen something in you three Men."

The hooded man smiled darkly and said, "We must leave soon. Do not bother with any of the bodies or the spoils."

"What? Why?"

"It will leave a message to the few that remember."

The Orcs reluctantly nodded and followed the hooded man, with the entire raiding party soon leaving the destroyed village.

 **Two Days Later:**

Galen sat up, taking in a huge gulp of air as if he had been underwater for too long. He quickly put a hand to his neck, only to feel that his neck had no sign of ever being slit—not even a scar. He looked around, wondering where he was. He could see enough to know that he was near where he saw Kaolin and Kuru die, but there everything was too…distorted for him to see much.

 _Where…Where am I?_ he thought. "Dad! …Kaolin!" he called out.

After looking around, Galen found his vision seemingly improve once he looked past the odd distortions around him. His eyes widened in fear on seeing two bodies on the ground. He walked over to them and saw that it was his father and sister. He knelt down next to his dad and checked for a pulse. His heart fell with each passing second until he knew that any attempt to bring his dad back was pointless. He looked closer at his dad's body to see that his throat was slit. Knowing that his father was dead, Galen gently put his hand over Kuru's face and closed his dead eyes. "May you rest in peace for eternity, father." he whispered, his voice nearly getting clogged in his throat.

Galen blinked out his tears and walked over to Kaolin, knowing that she met the same fate as their dad. He looked at Kaolin one more time and knelt down. He gently closed her eyes, and said, "May you rest in peace for eternity, sister."

Galen looked at Kaolin's discarded dagger and picked it up. He hated the very idea of looting his own sister's body for a weapon, but he wasn't taking any chances with Orcs. Looking around through the distortion, Galen couldn't help but wonder one thing:

"Am I dead?"

"You are banished from death, I'm afraid."

Galen spun around, unsheathing Kaolin's dagger. "Who are you? Show yourself!"

"I can't answer your question, but I can do the second part." the voice responded. Galen looked in the direction of the voice and nearly dropped his dagger in shock.

"Wha…What are you?" Before Galen stood a ghostly blue image of a man that Galen was certain was wearing a Ranger cloak.

The ghostly image shrugged. "I don't know. I've been wandering around for who knows how long, but I've never run into anyone that could see me. I was hoping that you might have an answer."

Galen slowly shook his head. "I've never been able to see anything like you before. Wait…I was killed, but I'm still alive," He looked at the Wraith, his brows knit together in confusion. "Are you somehow keeping me alive right now?"

"In a way, I suppose. That ritual that you were a part of, it bound us together."

"So…I'm not dead but not alive?"

"You can still die, but you'll not fall into death's embrace." the ghost said.

Galen sighed and shook his head. "This is…This is a lot to take in."

"Let's start with what happened to you. I didn't quite see what happened to you, but I heard someone calling out to me, yet I don't know who I am."

Looking around, Galen saw a tower glowing brightly in the distance. "What's that?"

The Wraith looked at where Galen was pointing to and said, "Those are beacons of light in this world. They allow those that discover them to travel instantaneously through both this world, and the world that you once knew."

"There's two different worlds?"

"They are one and the same, but few in your world can see, let alone interact with this one. You are now one of those few that can walk in both the land of the living and the land of the dead."

"Wait…So…You're telling me that I'm like the Gravewalker?"

The Wraith shrugged and said, "I don't know who that is, but it sounds like he had a similar situation as you do."

The two began to walk toward the tower, with Galen asking many questions. "That cloak you have looks like it has the crest of Gondor on it. Were you a soldier?"

"I don't remember anything about myself. All I know is that I was once a Ranger before I died."

"You don't remember your name?" Galen asked.

"Correct."

"What should I call you? Calling you a Wraith sounds a little too…harsh."

"Since I only remember being a Ranger of Gondor, you can call me Ranger."

The two reached the tower, with Galen recognizing part of the tower. "This isn't right…I've been here before. This tower isn't here! It's just ruins!"

"That is how you perceived it in your world," Ranger said. "This world is a reflection of yours. Things that you saw in your world may be seen differently in this one."

Galen looked up at the tower and said, "So, what now?"

"You climb it. That's the way these towers work for some reason." Ranger stated.

Looking at back at the tower and hesitated. "Is it really okay to just…climb this? I know for a fact that I remember this area and this is just the remains of a tower."

Ranger slowly nodded in understanding. "Well…Since we are now bound together, my actions become yours, and your actions become mine. If you aren't so sure about climbing it yourself, I can take over for you."

Before Galen could ask what Ranger was talking about, he found himself suddenly feeling like he lost control of himself, and starting to climb up the tower against his will. "What's happening?!" he said, despite his lips not moving.

"Simple: we are sharing bodies, yet I can manifest myself outside of your body to give you something to see while we are talking to each other." Ranger replied, with Galen feeling his lips moving without him trying to talk.

 _That's going to take some getting used to._ he thought.

"I can also hear your thoughts unless you don't want me to," Ranger stated, his voice carrying a humored tone. Ranger pulled himself up and stood at the top of the tower. "Well, we're at the top."

Galen didn't know how, but he could tell that he had control of his own body again. He walked to the edge of the tower's top and looked at the Sacaen Plains. "Amazing view, isn't it?" Ranger asked. Finding his voice stuck in his throat, Galen could only nod.

"I was amazed by the view from atop these towers the first few times too…However, I believe it is time that you return to your world."

"Wait, what?" Galen asked. Before he knew it, he felt himself once more moving against his will and would have screamed in fear if he could about running toward the edge and jumping off the tower.

 _What the hell are you doing?!_ Galen demanded.

"You'll see." Ranger said, an unintended smirk forming on Galen's face.

 _It's going to take a while to get used to the thought of having a ghost in my body that can take control of me._ Galen thought.

Ranger and Galen landed safely on the ground, with Galen barely feeling a thing. He stood up and looked around. _This is definitely the forest._ he thought. He walked toward his home and was relieved to see that it looked like someone had been there. _Word will get out of this. Unless the Orcs brought their dead with them, people will see the Orcs bodies. People will want answers…And I'll give those answers to them._ he thought.

"You may want to see if there is still anything of value from your home. I know that it's in poor taste to loot the dead; but they won't protest, and no one will know about it but you," Ranger said. "Looking at the dagger at your belt, you don't seem to have a problem with looting your sister's corpse at the very least."

"Watch where you tread, Ranger. Once I find myself another weapon, I will not use my sister's dagger." Galen warned.

Ranger's image shrugged and disappeared. "Suit yourself."

Galen shook his head in disbelief at what was happening to him. _This is crazy. I must be dreaming! There's no way a Wraith is bound to me!_ he thought, making sure to block his thoughts from Ranger. He entered the ruins of his home and solemnly looked around. He wandered through the wreckage until he found a few bodies that he recognized. _Their bodies are already decaying…_ he thought sadly.

Ranger appeared next to Galen and said, "It seems you have a lot of digging to do."

Galen sighed, knowing that Ranger was right. "It's only fair that they all get a proper burial…Every man, woman, and child." he agreed.

Over the next week, Galen almost tirelessly began digging individual graves for each of his tribe members, finding a scroll that thankfully survived the attacks that contained traditional burial rights. If it was possible, Galen was sure that each burial made his tear-ducts run dry.

 _So much death in so little time. It's unbelievable._ he thought, lying down to rest from all of the burials.

"This is but a taste of what the Dark Lord's armies can do." Ranger replied, breaking his respectful silence.

 _Dark Lord? You mean…Sauron was behind this attack?_

"I do not know. The Dark Lord is one of the only beings in history that has been able to create Orcs, and almost all of them died centuries ago. Unless someone has somehow tapped into Sauron's power, there's no other explanation that I can think of." Ranger replied.

 _I thought that the destruction of the One Ring prevents Sauron from ever doing any harm for eternity._

"Again, I do not know how these Orcs came to be."

… _I need to finish these burials._ Galen thought, blocking his thoughts from Ranger, and walking to the nearest body. His heart stopped for a few beats on seeing who the next few people he bury were. _They didn't even spare the children…_ he thought.

With his sorrow hitting an all-time high, Galen found himself collapsing from sheer grief multiple times. _I'm going to find every Orc and those three men responsible for this…And they will die as my people did: in pain and in fear._

"Be careful, Galen, that you do not let a desire for vengeance control your life." Ranger warned.

"Shut up! You probably never lost everyone you knew and loved!" Galen yelled angrily.

"We both know that I can neither confirm nor deny that." Ranger stated.

Galen spent a few minutes getting his anger under control before going back to burying many of the children of his tribe. It was very painful for him to bury so many children, but he barely managed to cope with it.

As the sun began to set, Galen walked over to one of the few tents that were spared from the fires and all but collapsed onto his bedroll, falling asleep for the first time in what felt like weeks despite it only being a few days.

 **And that is the end of the first official chapter of the story. I know that I don't have the best writing schedule since I'm don't get a whole lot of alone time until it's night, and then I'm usually pretty tired.**

 **In case you have never played Shadow of Mordor, I'll leave you guys a translation of the chanting that was used.**

" **A sacrifice of blood and bone. A bridge for you to follow. You will emerge a shadow."**

 **Anyway, I'll see ya in the next chapter.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Alright, you probably know the drill by now. I don't own Fire Emblem or Shadow of Mordor. Fire Emblem is the property of Nintendo's Intelligent Systems. Shadow of Mordor is the property of Monolith Productions and Warner Bros; with the world and lore belonging to J. R. R. Tolkien (Bless his soul). On the the chapter!**

 **Chapter 2: Alone on the Plains**

 _After cheating death with the timely intervention of a mysterious Wraith, Galen returned to the remains of his home and set to work on burying the dead. Overcome by grief, Galen realized that he would have to leave the ruins of his home._

Galen was burying more of his dead tribesmen, when he heard the sound of horses approaching his home. He peered around the corner of a tent to see two horsemen riding towards him. _Great, now I either have to explain what happened, or fight off scavengers with naught but a dagger. Why did the Orcs have break every weapon here?_ he thought.

He fastened Kaolin's dagger to his belt and slowly stepped out into the open. "Who's there?" he demanded, looking closely at the two horsemen. They both seemed to be knights if their armor was anything to go by, but Sacae had no knights to speak of. One of the knights wore red armor that went surprisingly well with his equally red hair; and the other knight had a similar color scheme, only green, and he wore a headband to keep his brown hair out of his eyes.

"What happened here?" the red-armored knight asked.

Galen grit his teeth, but forced himself to relax. "We were attacked."

"By whom?"

"Monsters." Galen stated. _Please don't think I'm a madman._

"Monsters? You can't be serious."

"I can show you the bodies if you don't believe me. They've decayed a bit, but they clearly aren't people." Galen replied, crossing his arms.

"How many were there?" the green knight asked.

"I can't say for sure. I killed about twenty-five of them though, but I saw more."

"Twenty-five?!" the green knight exclaimed. "Surely you jest! You're much too young!" the green knight exclaimed.

Galen narrowed his eyes at the knight and said, "I've been training for almost twelve years. I can handle myself…Also, you don't look much older than me."

Before the green knight could reply, the red knight silenced him with a stern look. "Sain, our mission, remember?"

The green knight—apparently named Sain—opened his mouth to protest, but the red knight said, "I'm serious Sain. Your womanizing has cost us enough time, and we should not keep this young man any longer than we have to."

"What's this mission you mentioned?" Galen asked, getting the red knights attention. "I'm sorry, uh, what are your names?"

The two knights looked at each other. The red knight looked back at Galen and said, "I am Sir Kent, and this is Sir Sain. We hail from the Caelin province of the Lycian League."

Galen slightly tilted his head at Lycia being named. "What are Lycian knights doing so far from home?" he asked.

"We were sent here to bring a message to Lady Madelyn, who married a nomad some nineteen years ago." Kent explained.

"Madelyn?" Galen said, a small amount of sadness washing over him. _This matches up too much with Hassar and Madelyn…_ he thought

"Madelyn is the only daughter of the marquess, our ruler. He was heartbroken when his only child ran away; but he eventually began to claim that he no longer had a daughter." Kent said, looking over at Sain to continue.

"And then, this year, we received a letter from Lady Madelyn. It said she, her husband, and their daughter were living happily here in Sacae. Surprisingly, the marquess was overjoyed to learn that he had a granddaughter of 18 years. I remember the smile on his face when he announced that he'd become a grandfather. The granddaughter's name was Lyndis; the name of the marquess' wife, who passed away a long time ago."

Galen quieted down and lowered his head. _Lyn was royalty? What am I going to tell them? Their leader's granddaughter is dead?_ he thought, slowly beginning to panic. "Why choose that name?" he asked, hoping that this was simply a pure, if cruel, coincidence.

"Having his granddaughter named after his late wife likely thawed his heart. Now, his only wish is to meet his daughter's family at least once. This is why we're here." Sain continued.

"…What was the name of the nomad she married, and what tribe was he from?" Galen asked, dreading the answer.

"I'm not too sure about this, but I believe the nomad's name was Hassar, but we know that he was a part of the Lorca tribe. Does the name mean anything to you?" Kent said.

That was it. Galen slowly backed up, but fell backwards, shivering from trying not to cry out.

"What's wrong?" Sain asked, with both him and Kent dismounting their horses.

Galen quickly wiped the tears from his eyes and tried to take on a straight face. He looked up at the two knights and said, "I…I hate to tell you this but…Madelyn and Hassar are dead…I-I have yet to find Lyn's body; but to my knowledge, I am the only survivor."

Kent's and Sain's jaws dropped in disbelief. "Are you sure? The Marquess would be grieved to hear that his daughter and her family have all died."

"I've been working on burying my tribesmen for over a week. Forgive me if I'm not able to confirm that yet…Unless you don't mind getting your hands and armor dirty." Galen said.

"You're truly the only survivor?" Kent asked, with Galen answering with a nod. "Who did all this?"

"Orcs."

"Orcs? I've never heard of them." Sain commented, looking around at the destruction.

"I'm not surprised that you haven't. They're an ancient race of warriors that can only exist through powerful dark magic—magic that hasn't been used in untold centuries."

"I mean you no offense in saying that this sounds more like a tall-tale." Kent stated.

"Follow me." Galen replied, walking to where he piled up the decaying bodies of the Orcs.

"Where are you going?" Sain asked.

"To show you that I can back up my 'tall-tales.'" Galen yelled over his shoulder.

Galen led Kent and Sain through the village until they reached the other end of it. "There's a pile of bodies over there. Look at them, com back to me, and tell me that those aren't monsters." he said, pointing to what he hoped would be a mock mass grave for the Orcs.

Kent and Sain exchanged uncertain looks, but walked in the direction that Galen pointed them in. The two knights approached the pile and were shocked at the appearance of the Orcs. Not sure what to think, they returned to Galen, shock expressions still on their faces.

"Believe me now?" Galen asked when they returned to him.

"I…Have never seen such horrid creatures in my life." Sain commented, wondering what could possibly create Orcs.

"Believe me, they're much uglier and more terrifying when they're alive." Galen said.

"What was it like, fighting these…beasts?" Kent asked.

"Probably the hardest thing I've ever done. Imagine having to cut through both thick leather armor and whatever it's wearing as well." Galen said.

"Gods. You have my condolences…er, what's your name?" Sain said.

"Call me Galen."

"Galen, you have my deepest condolences for what happened to you and your tribe." Sain said sadly.

"Thanks…I…I believe that you have no other business here." Galen said a little harsher than he intended.

"You say that you are the only survivor, but you also said that you not completely sure. Surely, we can at least make sure that Milady Lyndis is not among the dead?" Kent suggested.

"You can help if you want, but I want to make sure everyone here gets a proper _Sacaen_ burial." Galen said emphasizing that he wanted to bury the bodies his way. walking back to the village, Galen wiped some tears from his eyes and went back to work. After burying a few more bodies, Galen took to wandering around for a bit. While his mind wandered for some time, the main thoughts he had revolved around the Lycian knights. _For the sake of those knights, I hope that Lyn's body isn't here._ he thought.

His wandering done for the moment, he went back to searching for more bodies, Galen found only four more; and he knew that this would hurt him the most. He found the bodies of Kaolin, Kuru, Hassar, and Madelyn. He briefly closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.

"I could bury them for you if you want." Ranger said.

 _No. I have to do this myself. It wouldn't be right if I wasn't the one to bury them after burying everyone else._

Galen took another deep breath and slowly began to prepare the last four bodies for burial.

Burying Kuru was difficult for Galen, but it was Kaolin's body that made Galen realize something that shattered his already-broken heart. When he picked up Kaolin's corpse for burial, he heard something hit the ground. He looked down to see a small ring. Carefully setting his sister's body back on the ground, Galen knelt down and picked up the ring. After looking at it for a few seconds, he recognized that this wasn't just jewelry; it was an engagement ring.

… _My sister was engaged? To who?_ he thought. Looking closer at the ring, Galen could tell that whoever proposed to his sister was one of the hunters. With that in mind, Galen began to narrow it down to a few people, and slowly crossing each one off the list. _…Hinto. It was Hinto that proposed to my sister._ he realized. _My sister was engaged, and I never knew it. Was I that bad of a brother? Surely, she would have been extremely excited to tell me. Did she tell me, but I just didn't notice it?_

"Galen, focus. I may not know you or your people very well, but I trust that she would have told you if she was engaged." Ranger said sympathetically.

 _If that's true…then she must've gotten engaged the day of the attack._ Galen thought, ignoring Ranger.

"I don't know, but it sounds that it was either the day of the attack, or perhaps just a day or two before it. If Kaolin is anything like the person you've told me about, I believe that she would have been very upfront with you about it." With Ranger's piece thrown in, but apparently ignored, he faded once more.

With the bittersweet reveal that Kaolin was engaged shortly before the attack, Galen picked up his sister's body once more and proceeded to bury her. _Kaolin…Know that I would've supported you and Hinto being together…Just as long as you named one of the kids after me._ he thought, a sad smile on his face. He couldn't explain why, but he felt that with his family now at rest, he felt much better. All that he had to do now was bury Hassar and Madelyn.

"You've been awfully quiet, Galen." Kent said from behind Galen, startling him.

"Just…saying my last goodbyes to my family." Galen replied.

Kent looked at the two newly dug mounds of dirt and said, "Family?"

Galen shook his head and pointed to Kuru's and Kaolin's graves respectively. "Father and sister."

Kent put a hand on Galen's shoulder and said, "For what it's worth, I'm sorry for you loss."

Galen's eyes drifted down to Kent's hand. "Thank you. It just feels good to have someone to talk to again, I guess." he said.

"You've been talking to me this whole time." Ranger muttered.

 _You know what I meant. He hasn't exactly seen you, you know._

"There's only two more bodies, and neither of them are Lyn" Galen told Kent.

"This is good news," Kent said. "There's still a chance she could be alive."

"If she is alive, I wouldn't exactly call it living." Galen muttered.

"Pardon?" Kent asked.

"In the stories, Orcs were known for two things: brutally slaughtering everyone in their path, and occasionally taking survivors as slaves."

Kent's eyes widened. "If Milady Lyndis is a slave to these…Orcs, then surely she is in danger! The things they would do to her…I shudder to think of it!"

"Sir Kent, Orcs don't do to their prisoners what you're probably thinking," Galen said with disapproval. "Orcs don't behave the way you'd expect of bandits and slavers. They don't have our…urges—possibly a result of how they are created. If anything, the impossible expectations they place on their slaves are what we should be worried about."

"What kind of expectations?"

"Orcs typically used their slaves to build their fortresses, and forced them to construct other parts of their war machines."

"Do you have any way of tracking them down?" Kent asked.

"If I did, I wouldn't be here." Galen stated with a frown.

Kent tensed up, gritting his teeth in frustration. "Damn it…" He slowly began to walk away, now with another concern about his mission. He was not looking forward to telling Sain about this.

 _What should I do? On one hand, I want to hunt down those three men, but I don't have any idea of where to start looking for them. On the other hand, there's a chance that at least one of my tribesmen is still alive._ he thought.

"I'd say that you should help these men in their search for Lyn. If she was taken by the Orcs, then you'll not only have some backup, but you could also avenge your tribe at the same time." Ranger said.

Thinking on Ranger's words, Galen made his decision. He caught up with Kent and said, "Sir Kent, once I finish up here, I'll be more than happy to go with you and Sir Sain—if you'll have me."

Kent looked at Galen for a few seconds and said, "Do you have a horse?"

"I can get one in Bulgar."

"How much time do you need to finish your business here?" Kent asked.

"Depends. I wish to keep a few things from my tribe."

"I understand. I have some spare room in my saddlebags if you can't carry everything, just so long as it isn't an absurd load to carry."

"It won't be anything too heavy. It's mostly just texts and small artifacts that are important to us… _were_ important to us."

"We will be waiting where we met when you are done." Kent said, turning to walk back to where Sain was waiting.

Galen sighed wearily, and walked over to Hassar's and Madelyn's bodies. As he buried them, he spoke as if they could hear him. "So there's a chance your daughter is still alive. Hassar, Madelyn, I swear that I will find her, and help her find the other side of her family. If the Orcs got her, well…I'll avenge all of you."

Due to Hassar's position as the Chieftain, Galen spent a little more time and energy in giving him and Madelyn as best a burial as he could manage. With the last of the dead buried, Galen looked up at the sky. "Take care of them, Father Sky."

With that being done, Galen scoured the village ruins in search of anything of value; be it texts of Middle-Earth, medicine, gold, and other small things that he could bring with him. He counted out the gold coins that he found, and realized that the Orcs looted little to nothing from the village. _They attacked us with the sole intent of killing us…_ he thought.

"They knew that your tribe has preserved ancient history. They also likely used this as a chance to send a message to the few outside of your tribe that remember Middle-Earth." Ranger said.

 _That makes more sense than I'm willing to admit._

Galen packed up the few surviving relics and texts of his tribe. Looking at all that he had managed to salvage, he felt disappointment. _This was all I could find? I guess Middle-Earth's history might not move on to the next generation._

"If you keep thinking that, then it will happen. It will be up to you and Lyn to pass along your tribe's knowledge." Ranger said.

Galen finished putting his things into a bag, while putting what gold coins he could find into a different bag. When he began to walk toward Kent and Sain, he realized that he didn't have any weapons other than Kaolin's hunting knife. _I don't want to bother Kent and Sain with my not having a sword, but…I kind of want a sword for myself._ he thought.

"Well, there is an ancient fortress near here that has a few swords in it. I believe the fortress is of Númenórean make." Ranger said.

 _I think I know the place. I'd have to push a certain spot on the wall, but only Hassar knew which stone to push._

"Númenórean forts of this kind usually have the pressure-stone in the same general area. Just go there, and I'll be able to find it."

Kent and Sain approached Galen, with Sain speaking up. "You ready to head out, friend?"

Galen shot a glance toward the forest. "Not yet. There's…something I need to find first."

"Perhaps we could assist you with finding it?" Kent suggested.

Galen would normally refuse to even consider showing the hidden fortress to non-Lorca, but he knew that if he would never show it to anyone, the fort would likely be forever lost. "Sure. It's in the forest though, so you may need to leave your horses at the edge of the woods."

Kent looked at the forest and said, "The forest doesn't look too thick from here."

"It gets thick pretty quick, but you just don't see it from here." Galen stated, beginning to walk toward the forest. Kent and Sain looked at each other, shrugged, and followed the Lorca to the woods.

Kent and Sain couldn't explain why, but they felt that something was following them through the forest. As the three headed for the fort Ranger appeared next to Galen.

"There are Orcs following us."

 _Perfect._ Galen thought, a scowl forming on his face.

"Stop."

Kent and Sain stopped and looked at Galen. "Is something the matter?" Sain asked.

"We are being followed."

At that moment, a group of Orcs burst through the thick foliage. The Orcs looked at all three humans, but their gaze focused on Galen.

"Lorca? Looks like we missed one o' ya, eh? An easy mistake to fix!" the lead Orc proudly announced.

 _Damn it, where's a sword when I actually need it?!_ Galen thought when he reached over his left shoulder, only to finally remember that he didn't have a sword.

"I think I can help with that." Ranger said.

Before Galen could ask what Ranger meant, he saw himself looking into what he had begun to call the "Wraith World." Everything seemed to move so much slower than they should be, yet Galen felt himself moving at a normal speed

"It's not a sword, but it'll do for now.

Galen was shocked to feel a bow forming in his hands, but also felt Ranger taking control of his body. He settled for letting the Wraith do his thing for a bit as Ranger shot some of the Orcs in the head, with the lead Orc being the first to fall. Everything sped back up to normals speeds, and four Orcs fell dead, a glowing blue arrow imbedded in each of their skulls.

"Oy! Who shot those arrows!?" one of the Orcs demanded.

Kent and Sain looked at each other in confusion. "I thought you said you and Lyn were the only survivors?"

"I…We are." Galen replied, feigning ignorance.

"Then who shot those arrows?" Sain asked.

"Enough talk! Kill those tarks!" another Orc shouted, leading a few of the Orcs toward the three humans.

"Whoever shot those arrows would really come in handy right about now." Kent muttered, drawing his sword.

 _Ranger?_

"I can't. I'll need more arrows."

Galen ducked under a sword swing and stabbed his dagger deep into his attackers throat. _How do you get more?_

"I…don't know how. I haven't figured that part out yet since I've never had to shoot all of my arrows at one time."

 _Who keeps only four arrows?!_ Galen thought angrily, quickly picking up the weapon of the Orc he just killed.

"Wraith arrows work differently. You can't just _make_ them."

Galen struggled to hold up the heavy Orc sword to block another attack and kill the offending Orc, dropping the crude weapon in favor of sticking with Kaolin's dagger. _Well, how do you get more?_

"I already told you, I don't know."

 _Rrrgh. Fine!_ Galen thought as he stabbed Kaolin's dagger into the side of another Orc's head. He jumped back from another Orc's attack and tried to stab him a few times, but the Orc swung its fist at him; forcing the him to try grabbing the Orc's hand to deflect the blow. The Orc growled and rammed its shoulder into the Sacaen, knocking the air out of him. The Orc smirked and raised its weapon over its head, ready for the killing blow.

Galen felt himself rolled out of the way, yet nothing touched him, leaving the man to assume that Ranger may have had something to do with it. Galen leapt back onto his feet and tackled the Orc to the ground. The Orc tried to resist, and his head touched Galen's right hand. To Galen's shock, surprise, and horror, his hand glowed blue and seemed to burn the Orc's face, yet left no burn mark. They both backed away from each other, breathing heavily.

Wondering what happened to his hand to make it burn the Orc, he leaned against a nearby tree and stared at his hand. Ranger appeared next to him and said, "Go back to that Orc. Do what you just did."

Galen nodded and walked back to the paralyzed Orc and put his hand on the side of the creature's head. He couldn't explain it, but he felt an odd power flow through him, and into his hand.

From the Orc's point of view, this Man-filth just put his hand on him, only for the Man to be replaced by what could never be mistaken for anything other than a Wraith.

"Tell us where the rest of you went!" Ranger demanded.

The Orc stared at Ranger in complete fear, but the Wraith simply pressed the filthy creature's head against a rock.

"Our war-band split up into three groups. Each group is led by one of the Black Captains: the Sword of Spite, the Shield of Shadow, and the Hand of Hatred. They left after thinking that all of the Lorca were dead, leaving us behind to deal with any survivors."

Kent and Sain finished off the last two Orcs and stared at Galen in disbelief. They weren't sure exactly what was happening, but, to them, it looked to them as if the Sacaen was torturing information out of the final Orc. What didn't make much sense was how the Orc seemed to not be in any physical pain, and why Galen just had a hand on the thing's face.

Kent sheathed his sword and approached Galen. "Galen, is something wrong?"

Suddenly, Galen scowled and shoved the Orc to the ground, with the creature quickly getting up and running away in terror.

Kent and Sain prepared to chase after the Orc, but Galen held his hand out out in front of them. "Don't bother. He'll make a statement to his Captains."

"Captains? These things are organized?!" Said asked, slightly paling at the thought.

"Worse. They have a hierarchy of leaders. According to the stories, Orcs follow the orders of Uruks—stronger Orcs who have captains, who answer to war-chiefs, who swear fealty to the Black Captains. The Black Captains are given their power and authority by the Dark Lord himself." Galen explained. On seeing the blank looks from Kent and Sain, he said, "None of what I just said made any sense, did it?"

"Yeah…You might want to explain that to us."

Galen nodded in agreement. "Maybe some other time. We still need to get what we're here for."

"And what exactly are we in these woods for?" Sain asked.

"A sword."

Kent and Sain blinked a few times, wondering if Galen was kidding or not. "It's not exactly a sacred sword, but it once belonged to an unsung hero of the past."

"Everything you've told us; you speak as if a part of history has been lost to us." Kent observed.

"It has…We're here." Galen said, looking at the hidden entrance to the fortress that he officially became a Ranger in just over a week ago.

"This is where the sword is?" Kent asked doubtfully.

"Say what you will, but this stone simply hides what is really behind it." Galen said.

Ranger appeared and looked at the stone for a few seconds. The Wraith walked over to a stone and pointed to a certain spot on the stone. Galen went and pushed on the stone that pointed out to him.

To Kent's and Sain's astonishment, a part of the rock smoothly slid up, revealing a doorway. "…How?…What?" Sain asked.

"An ancient civilization that would probably still be more advanced than we could ever hope to be built this fortress. Our tribe used to hide here during the days of the dragons; but we haven't really used it for much ever since those times."

Galen led the two Caelin knights inside the Númenórean fort, and quickly made his way to the main chamber, not caring if Sain and Kent followed him or not.

"This place is amazing! I never would have thought such a place could be possible!" Kent exclaimed, looking at the craftsmanship that was clearly put into building the hidden fortress.

"It truly is amazing, isn't it?" Galen commented from ahead of the knights. He walked up to where he could still vividly remember taking his oath like it was yesterday, reverently picked up the sheath for Urfael. Just a few short seconds after picking up the ancient sword, however, Galen felt his hand throb in pain; and was overtaken by blinding pain.

"Aaaaaaaaaahaaaaaagh!" he yelled in pain, making Kent and Sain draw their swords in alarm.

"What is it?! More of those things?" Kent shouted.

Try as he might, Galen could not hear the words of either knight as images, sounds, and feelings assaulted his mind. He couldn't quite sort out what he was seeing, but he vaguely saw images of what matched the descriptions of the Black Gate, as well the same sacrificial ritual that he saw, but with different people involved.

Galen saw himself looking through someone else's eyes, but he knew that this was similar to what happened to him.

"Ghuramu shirkush' agh azgushu. Zant ya apakurizak. Gül-n anakhizak." chanted a voice that was eerily similar to the voice of the hooded man that murdered his own family. Galen felt the disturbingly familiar sensation of having his throat slit.

When Galen finally found himself no longer having that vision, he saw that Kent and Sain were looking over him. He blinked a few times to make sure that this wasn't another part of the vision before saying, "What happened?"

"I'd like to know that myself, actually." Kent replied, holding out a hand to the Lorca.

"I picked up that sword and…saw a vision of some sort."

"A vision? What did you see?" Sain asked.

"I just saw a man and his family being executed on some sort of gate. It looked like it happened long ago, but I can't be sure." Galen said, staring at the sheathed sword in wonder. _I've never held this sword before. I wonder if this sword has any powers?_

"You can inscribe Elvish runes on Urfael to either enhance yourself or the sword itself." Ranger said. Galen noticed the Wraith seemingly recoil from what he said. "How do I know that? I didn't know that before…"

 _Maybe you have some sort of connection with Urfael?_ Galen thought.

"That…that would make sense. The real question is that if I do have a connection with this sword, what is it?" Ranger replied.

"Galen, that is quite a beautiful blade. I've never seen anything like it," Kent commented, looking at Urfael. "Why keep it locked away in here? Surely such a sword will come in handy."

 _Especially if this sword was pretty much made just to kill Orcs, I'd say so._ Galen thought. He strapped the sheath to his belt and tested pulling it out. He frowned on seeing that it wasn't quite working. _I guess this sword wasn't mean to hang at the waist._ he thought. He removed the sword his belt and looked at Kent. "You don't happen to have a spare belt, do you?"

"There's one in my saddle bags, but we'll have to go back for my horse."

"Good. We're done here anyway." Galen replied.

The three left the fortress, with the secret opening sealing itself behind them; likely never to be opened again in a long time.

Galen, Kent, and Sain exited the forest to see a small merchant caravan just outside of the village. Ranger appeared next to Galen and said, "And so it begins."

 _Not now, Ranger._

"You had to have known that someone would've discovered this sooner or later." Ranger replied.

 _I would preferred it to be much later._

Ranger, seeing that Galen was not in the mood for talking, nodded and faded.

The three humans approached the caravan.

"Hail, strangers! Do any of you know what happened here?" one of the merchants called out as they approached.

Ranger didn't appear to Galen, but he could hear the Wraith's voice in his head. "They cannot know what happened; not yet. Tell them you were attacked by bandits."

"We were attacked by bandits." Galen answered.

"Really? I thought that the Lorca could handle a few bandits." the merchant mused.

"Tell him they poisoned your water." Ranger whispered.

Galen clenched his fists at the unintended insult, and forced himself to calm down. "The bandits poisoned the water, which weakened many of us, especially our warriors. As far as I know, only I and one other have survived."

"Truly? Those bandits must have been ruthless," the merchant commented. "I'm sorry to hear about your tribe."

"…Thank you."

The merchant looked over Galen's shoulder to see Kent and Sain. "What are knights doing here?"

Galen exchanged looks with Kent, but the knight subtly shook his head. He looked back at the merchant and said, "They were just passing through."

"If you want, you three are welcome to come with us to Bulgar. Perhaps you could start out a new life there." the merchant said, directing the last part to Galen

The three warriors exchanged looks, and Galen looked back at the merchant. "We'll take you up on that offer."

The merchant clasped his hands together and beckoned to the three to follow him. "Excellent! This is most excellent!" The merchant led them to the front of the caravan and said, "The way I see it, since you'll be traveling with us to Bulgar, you could also be our escorts for the time being. Perhaps, if you are willing, you could also be the guards for this caravan even after we leave Bulgar if you are so inclined. You'll be compensated quite well for your services; I can guarantee that!"

"We're just heading for Bulgar." Galen stated.

"Oh…Uh, right. Suit yourself." the merchant said, hoping that he didn't sound too pushy in his request.

"Don't worry. It has nothing to do with you." Kent reassured the man.

"If you don't mind my asking, what are your names?" the merchant asked.

"I am Kent, and this is Sain. We hail from the Caelin province of Lycia," Kent said, gesturing to himself and Sain. "And this is Galen. We found him fighting off some bandits that decided to try to salvaged his home's ruins." Kent continued, nodded his head toward Galen, who bowed his head.

"Sir Kent, Sir Sain, and Galen, it will be great to have you with us! My name is Merlinus, and I'm the owner of this caravan." the merchant said, bowing deeply to the three.

"A pleasure to meet you, Merlinus." Kent said, a friendly smile on his face.

Merlinus straightened from his bow and motioned to the caravan to start moving.

As the caravan moved away from the village ruins, Galen found himself frequently looking back. While he didn't appear next to Galen, the man could hear Ranger's voice. "And so this chapter of your life ends. Question is, will your next chapter be one of hope and peace; or will it be full of hatred and revenge?"

 _I hope that it will be hope and peace…_ Galen thought.

While Galen couldn't see it, he had a feeling that Ranger had a sad smile on his face. "I pray that you do, too."

 **And that concludes the second chapter of Shadows of Sauron. Feel free to tell me what you think of the story, even if it's something you don't like about the story. I'm open to ideas, but I'm striving for this to not end up as an 'OCs are better than cannon characters' thing. I know that automatically is going to be hard for those of you who have any idea of what Talion could do in Shadow of Mordor, but I'll try my best.**

 **I'm very well aware that FE7 starts six months after the destruction of the Lorca tribe; don't worry about that. I'm also aware that Kent and Sain likely didn't get to Sacae just over a week after receiving the message from Madelyn about Lyn, but I couldn't really see any way to get cannon characters in for a few chapters. What say you that we pretend that the message was sent earlier that it was in cannon? No one will know; it'll be our little secret.  
**

 **Also, with more characters being added in, I figured that it would be fun to add in levels, and equipment at the beginning of chapters, starting with chapter 3. If you don't want me to do this, do say so. I won't mind being told 'no.'**

 **See you in the next chapter.**


	4. Chapter 3

**Here's the next chapter, as promised.**

 **Since I decided to go with having some stats and stuff, I figured that I'll put it at the beginning of the chapter, so feel free to ignore just about anything I say at the start of chapters from now on, unless you're curious about the party…This is gonna get pretty damn long by the time I'm done, isn't it?…sigh.**

 **Note: I decided to make a class that's a mixture between a Mercenary and a Myrmidon since I couldn't really decide what class to make Galen. I personally think that he's more of a mix between the two. On one hand, he's definitely going to be more resilient than a Myrmidon, but he's not going to be as "sluggish"as a Mercenary either. You can pretty much imagine his combat skills the way Talion fought in the game: brutal, yet surprisingly elegant.**

 **Galen** **, Ranger, LV: 3 (What? He's killed a lot of Orcs already)**

 **Weapon Rank: Swords: D, Bows: E**

 **Equipment: Urfael, Kaolin's Dagger, Vulnerary (3),**

 **Ranger (character), Wraith, LV: 15 (He won't do a whole lot, because he's kind of a Wraith)**

 **Weapon Rank: Swords: S, Bows: S, Dark Magic: B (What else could a Wraith's abilities be considered?)**

 **Equipment: Spectral Sword, Spectral Bow.**

 **Powers: Wraith Vision, Drain.**

 **Kent, Cavalier. LV: 1**

 **Weapon Rank: Swords: E, Lances: D**

 **Equipment: Iron Sword, Iron lance, Vulnerary (3).**

 **Sain, Cavalier. LV: 1**

 **Weapon Rank: Swords: E, Lances: D**

 **Equipment: Iron Lance.**

 **If you are still here, you're probably thinking that this is going to take up a lot of pages over the course of the story…It most likely will.**

 **Anyway, I don't own Fire Emblem or Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor. Fire Emblem belongs to Nintendo and Intelligent Systems; and Shadow of Mordor belongs to Monolith Production. LotR belongs to the late J.R.R. Tolkien.**

 **Chapter 3: Deep in the Flame.**

 _With_ _Galen_ _starting on the long road to coming to terms with the death of his tribe and family, he accompanies Kent and Sain in their search for Lyn—hoping that she is still alive. As a first stop for supplies and information,_ _Galen_ _suggests going to the city of Bulgar, the commercial center of Sacae, to start their search for Lyn._

"So this is Bulgar, eh?" Sain asked, staring at a few pretty women, only to get nudged by Kent to look away.

"It's not exactly what most foreigners would expect, but most of the townsfolk are honest, hardworking people." Galen replied.

"It looks to be that way." Kent mused.

"You two should go stock up on supplies. I'll see about getting myself a horse." Galen said, walking toward a stall that was selling some food. As he walked around Bulgar to purchase supplies, Ranger walked alongside him.

"It's nice to see that even centuries later, people have moved on from the defeat of Sauron."

 _It's been centuries, Ranger. I'd be shocked if the world was still reeling from Sauron's influence._

"You are right that the world has recovered and even forgotten about Sauron; but I can still feel remnants of his dark taint."

 _How so?_

"Take those Orcs for example. They clearly weren't old enough to have existed from Sauron's time. If they were, you and your new friends wouldn't have stood a chance against them."

 _What are you saying? Is Sauron back?_

"No. His ring was destroyed, forever sealing him away. What I'm saying is that someone either found out how to make their own Orcs, or someone found an artifact of Sauron's power."

Galen couldn't help but sigh in relief. _As long as Sauron himself isn't returning, I can deal with whatever is making these new Orcs._

"Let's hope that you can. The power to create Orcs can cripple entire nations."

 _Because of the stories about them, I'd have to agree with you._

"Um…excuse me, sir?" a slightly timid voice said, breaking Galen's focus on Ranger's words. He looked in the direction of the voice to see a young girl staring at him. She couldn't have been more than thirteen years old.

"Yes?" Galen asked.

"C-Can you help me find my dad?" the girl asked nervously.

Galen knelt down to be at eye level with the girl. "Sure. What does he look like?" he asked, offering a small smile.

"Well, my dad's name is Makya, and he has golden hair, and he has blue eyes." the girl replied.

"What of your mother?" Galen asked.

The girl hesitated, before saying, "She's…not with us anymore. She left me and my dad a few years ago."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I'll help you look for your dad." Galen said, patting the girl's head. He stood up and wandered around Bulgar, the girl close behind him the entire time. After nearly an hour of searching, Galen found himself worried that something was wrong. Sure, Bulgar was not a very large city, but it was small enough that it was normally easy to find someone.

"Why rely on your own senses, when I can see better than any mortal could?" Ranger questioned.

 _You can? Why didn't you say something about it earlier?_

"I've seen most of this place from your wandering around, and I figured that you wouldn't be wasting so much time looking for someone." Ranger replied.

Galen resisted the urge to shake his head in annoyance and thought, _Well, what're you waiting for? Do it._

Galen saw himself seeing a mixture of his world and the world that Ranger dwelled in. It was no where near as distorted as the time he first woke up from his death; but everything that wasn't a living creature became much harder to see. What Galen found that the oddest thing was that he could see through walls, with living creatures having a blue glow to them. _Is this how you see the world?_

"This is how _we_ see the world when we share our eyes." Ranger replied.

 _So…a combination of what a Human and a Wraith would see?_

"For simplicity's sake…yes."

Galen felt a tug on his robe and his Wraith vision faded away. "Mister? Are you okay?"

"I am fine, thank you for asking…I think I saw your father over there." Galen replied, pointing to a small group of men. Looking closer, Ranger and Galen's shared vision could pick out the men that matched Makya's description. Seeing only one man with both gold hair and blue eyes, Galen began walking toward the group of men. As he approached, Galen could almost sense that the other men around Makya were not the most friendly of folks.

"Looks like you had better be ready to fight." Ranger mused.

 _It looks to be that way. Do you have any more arrows?_

"I do not."

 _Damn._

Now that his human eyes could actually see the group of men, he put his hand on the girl's shoulder. "Do you recognize those men?" he asked the girl, only for her to shake her head.

"Stay here. I'll go check to make sure that your father isn't in trouble first." Galen said. The girl nodded and sat down on a nearby box, watching Galen walking toward the group of men.

"Uh, hello there," Galen said, trying to sound like he hadn't heard the threats to Makya's life. _I did_ not _think this through very well…_ he thought. "I seem to have gotten lost on my way to the market, since I moved her just a few days ago. Would one of you be willing to show me where it is?"

The men lightly surrounding Makya didn't seem to tough. If anything, the seemed to only have confidence in numbers; not even strength. "Why should we show you where it is?" one of the men taunted.

"…Because you are the first people I found after I realized I'm lost?" Galen said, trying to sound a little nervous.

"Aww…that's cute. I bet you have plenty of gold to spend if you're new in town. What's your name?"

"Galen. Why?"

"Well, Galen, I think we'll become good friends with your gold." A few of the men walked away from Makya, and stood in front of Galen. Galen calmly watched the men surround him, but didn't do anything.

"Come on, mate, we don't wanna hurt you. Just hand us the gold and you'll be on your way." the supposed leader of the group said, putting a hand on his sword.

"Just as you're letting Makya leave?" Galen questioned, subtly tensing up his left arm to prepare to draw his own sword. "Do I look like I have any money?" he asked, feigning ignorance of what was happening.

The soon-to-be robbers exchanged looks of disbelief at this seemingly air-headed person. They looked back at Galen and the leader said, "Yes, actually. You look like you're weighed down by gold. Let us help you out and…relieve you of your burden."

Galen smirked and suddenly drew his sword, quickly bashing the leader's head with the pommel. "No thanks. My family's money is not yours to spend."

"Get him! There's one o' him!" the gang leader shouted, stumbling away from Galen, clutching at his hurt nose and possibly pride.

Galen deftly parried or blocked attack after attack, keeping a neutral expression on his face. "Ah, c'mon, you can do better than that! Like you lot said, there's only one of me!"

Galen parried another blow and backhanded the man that failed to hit him, knocking the gang member to the ground. "I'm not fighting back! What makes you think that you could possibly fight me for real?"

"Stop mocking us!"

Galen swept one of the men off his feet and said, "Fight better and I might."

Some of the men growled at Galen's casual attitude and two of them charged at him at the same time.

"Watch out!" Makya yelled, drawing his own sword and knocking one of the men surrounding him to the ground. He tried to reach Galen, but the two men attacking the Lorca were too close to do anything.

Seeing that Galen could do nothing with one of the men bearing down on him from in front, while the other attacked from behind, the Wraith stepped in and deflected the attack from behind, kicking at the man's left knee and nearly breaking it. Normally, the man would have yelled out, wondering what happened, but his broken knee left him unable to make any sound other than yells of pain.

With the loud sounds of people yelling and of swords clashing, a few city guards found their way to the alleyway that the one sided battle was going on, only to see Galen knock out the last of the gang members. Galen exhaled sharply and sheathed Urfael on his back. "Next time you fools decide to rob someone, make sure they can't or won't fight back," He looked at the guards and waved at them, a friendly smile on his face. "Hello, officers."

The guards looked at the unconscious gang members, Galen, and Makya in disbelief, but sheathed their own weapons. "What happened?" the lead guard asked.

"Oh, this?" Galen asked, gesturing to the unconscious men. "They thought that I was weighed down by gold and thought they could…help me carry some. I don't know about the other guy, but that's why they attacked me."

The lead guard looked at Makya and his eyes widened. "Mr. Makya, are you alright?"

Makya waved his hand dismissively. "I'm fine, thanks to this young man here," He looked at Galen and smiled. "It was a good thing that you came along when you did, lad. You have my thanks." he said, bowing his head to the Lorca.

"Sooo…what was the deal with these guys?" Galen asked.

"You'd be better off not knowing, lad. Trust me."

Makya's daughter came running up to him and hugged him. "Daddy! You're safe!"

Makya returned the hug and said, "Of course I'm safe, sweetheart. I always come back, remember?"

Makya's daughter beamed brightly at him and said, "I know! I just feel better seeing that you're safe."

Galen could tell just by those few sentences, that Makya and his daughter were close. _I should've been more like that with Dad and Kaolin._ he thought, holding back a tear at the thought of his sister.

Makya looked at Galen and said, "Your clothes look like those of the Lorca. What brings a lone Lorca to Bulgar? I thought that your tribe rarely has someone go to Bulgar alone. Did you get separated?"

"…You could say that." Galen said, trying to keep a neutral expression.

"I see. In any case, thanks for the help," Makya said, extending a hand to Galen, who shook it. Makya looked back at the unconscious gang members and said, "These folks are wanted for affiliation with a large group of bandits that have been causing issues for other villages. Hopefully, we can get some information of their whereabouts from these fellas."

Galen briefly looked at one of the men who was slowly coming to and said, "I can help with that…I'll need some privacy though."

Makya cocked an eyebrow, nervously looking between the Lorca and the gang members. "You…know how to do that stuff?" he asked.

"In a manner of speaking. It shouldn't take too long, depending on how much he knows." Galen replied nonchalantly.

Makya hesitated, but nodded. "Since you helped me out, I'm willing to give you a chance. If you don't get anything out of this though, we'll take it from here." He gestured to the guards to tie up the gang members before they fully regained consciousness. "When one of them wakes up, leave. I don't think we want to see what this man will do the poor sap who wakes up first."

Once the gang members were tied up, Makya, his daughter, and the guards left the alley; leaving Galen to pace back and forth until the leader was the first to wake up. "Uugh…wha' happened?"

Galen smirked and roughly lifted the man to his feet. "Listen up, trash, we can either do this the painless way, or the painful way. Tell us what you know."

The man stuttered, but seemed to gain some sort of courage and spat at Galen. "I ain't tellin' ya nothin'!" he yelled defiantly

"Painful way it is." Galen droned, shoving the man on his knees. He slapped his hand onto the man's face and let Ranger take over.

"You are mine!" Ranger roared into the man's mind.

"The Taliver Bandits made us do it. They took our families and said they'd kill 'em if we didn't help 'em." the man droned.

"Where are the Taliver Bandits?" Ranger yelled.

The man hesitated, but Ranger simply pressed further into the man's mind. "Tell me!"

"They haven't talked with us directly. We don't know where their stronghold is, but they plan on raiding all of the villages in the Taliver mountains in a few months." the man droned.

Ranger looked into the man's mind and saw that he had nothing more to say. He shoved the man to the ground and let Galen have control once more. He looked at the again-unconscious man and shook his head. _I don't think he's telling the truth. He looks too defiant to be telling the truth. How do we know we can trust this scumbag?_ he thought.

"What he said is true."

 _How do you know?_

"His thoughts and memories cannot lie. If Makya asks you what you did, tell him that."

Galen walked away from the tied-up gang and saw Makya standing around with some of the guards outside of the alley. "I'm done."

Makya nodded to the guards and they entered the alley, dragging the knocked-out gang members, and pushing the ones that woke up. "What'd you get?"

"The way that the Taliver Bandits communicated with these men ensured that they would never know the location of any significant strongholds. The man I…questioned…said that most of them were being forced to help the bandits ever since their families were taken."

Makya sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Of course those bastards would do something like this. Use good, honest folks to do their dirty work. This is why I do what I do." he muttered. He cleared his throat and said, "Did you learn anything else?"

"The Taliver Bandits are planning on raiding all of the villages in the Taliver Mountains in a few months. Didn't get anything very specific past that."

Makya smirked and said, "Well, I guess those bandits will have a surprise or two coming for them when they come up against trained soldiers." He put a hand on Galen's shoulder and gently squeezed it. "You've done a good thing today, young man. This intel may very well save many lives in the future."

Galen bowed his head and smiled. "It's what anyone would do."

 _I wouldn't exactly say that just anyone could torture someone else for information, but I guess this man's a good person_. Makya thought. "Speaking of which…How'd you get that information so quickly? I've seen men suffer for hours for far less. How do we know he didn't just say something that sounded good?"

Galen paused and thought for a second, but remembered what Ranger told him to say if he was asked. "Don't worry about the accuracy of what I was told. A man's thoughts cannot lie."

Makya's jaw dropped and his eyebrows shot up. "You…You can read minds?"

"Don't worry. It's only under certain circumstances; and no, I have no clue what you're thinking about right now. If I were to guess, however, it would probably be something along the lines of, 'Is this man serious?'"

Makya slightly shook his head in disbelief and said, "I was wondering more if you were simply joking, or if you were being serious."

"I'm dead serious about this. You can trust what I've told you."

Makya exhaled through his nose and nodded. "Very well. If you say it's good, I'll trust you." He held out his hand once more and said, "It was good meeting you, Galen."

Galen shook Makya's hand, looking him in the eye. "And you."

"Maybe we'll meet again in the future." Makya said, walking off, his daughter holding his hand. Galen watched the two walk away, a big smile on both of their faces.

"Galen! There you are!" a voice said, breaking Galen out of his thoughts.

 _Was that Sain?_ Galen thought. Looking in the direction of the familiar voice, it was indeed Sain—with Kent right behind him.

"We've been searching all over for you. Where'd you run off to?" Kent said.

"I…helped a little girl find her father." Galen said with a shrug.

"Ah, quite the noble deed!" Sain said with approval.

Galen gave Sain a blank glance before looking at Kent. "Did you manage to hear or find anything about Lyn?"

"I'm afraid not. Milady Lyndis does not appear to be in Bulgar."

Galen put a hand to his chin in thought. "Yeah…not very many girls with long, green hair that also wear Lorca robes." he muttered.

"It's getting late. We either have to leave now to find a suitable place to make camp, or find an inn for the night." Kent stated, looking at the sky.

"I know that I'm a nomad, but I'm all for finding an inn," Galen said. Kent and Sain looked at Galen, eyebrows cocked. "What? Even nomads have an appreciation for a roof of wood and stone instead of one of fur."

"As long as you're fine with it, and not just saying that for our sakes." Kent said.

"It's not the first time I've slept in a house." Galen muttered, his cheeks flushing a little bit.

"Well, let's go find us an inn!" Sain exclaimed excitedly.

"Just don't harass the bar maids this time." Kent sighed, following his hot-headed friend down the streets of Bulgar.

Ranger appeared next to Galen and spoke without looking at him. "It seems that interesting things will happen in the future."

 _Yeah. I can't say whether they'll be good things, or bad._

The three asked around for an inn and were directed to a small inn called " _The Salty Wolf_ ," with Kent and Galen heading straight to bed. Sain stayed up for about an hour, flirting with just about everyone woman that walked in, but many of them ignored him.

As Galen laid in his bed, staring at the ceiling, he mentally spoke with Ranger. _What manner of power is this, to reach into people's minds? It's not natural!_

"It is the power that has been granted to someone from centuries ago; and it is the same power that has been bestowed to you."

 _Yes, yes, the Gravewalker. How does this have anything to do with me?_

"That, I cannot say…"

 _You seem distracted._

"…"

 _You can tell me, Ranger. I'll listen._

"I have no memories of my past; yet when you picked up that sword back in the forest, I saw thing that I am almost certain happened to me in life."

 _Maybe you had some sort of connection with the sword? Quite a few people have; be it wielding it, holding it…getting killed by it…_

"Perhaps I wielded that blade when I was still alive?"

 _Maybe. I don't know._

"…That possibility has given me much to think about. If we can find what my connection to Urfael is, then we hold the key to my past and my memories."

 _I don't know if Wraiths need sleep, but goodnight, Ranger._

Galen turned over in his bed and closed his eyes, ignoring the sound of Sain entering the room and preparing himself for bed as well.

The next day, Galen rose early, seeing that Kent and Sain were still sleeping. Not wanting to disturb them, he quietly got dressed and walked downstairs to the main floor of the inn. He sat at a table, ordering a simple meal of bread, cheese, and water. Once his food arrived, he paid the young man that gave it to him and proceeded to eat.

As he neared the end of his meal, an older man that he did not recognize sat across from him in the same table and picked up a menu. The man seemed to be in his late-sixties to his early-seventies, yet he moved with absolutely no sign of old age. The man had was bald and beardless, but his most notable feature was his longer-than-usual nose. The elderly man also seemed to be overly fond of wearing red clothes. "Excuse me, sir…This table's taken." Galen said politely.

The looked up from his menu and smiled at Galen. "You're Galen of the Lorca, correct?" he asked.

Galen resisted the temptation to put his hand on his sister's dagger and opted for narrowing his eyes. "Who's asking?"

"Ah, forgive me." the man said after ordering his meal.

"My name is Heiss. You helped us out yesterday with those gang members."

Galen, not sure what was going on with this man, remained silent, his fingers hovering over his dagger.

Seeing that Galen was waiting for him to clarify, Heiss continued speaking. "Makya spoke quite highly of you—not an easy feat—and I felt like seeing you for myself."

"Why would you want to see me? I just happened to be in the right place at the right time." Galen retorted

"Yes, but I feel that fate made Makya's daughter come to you, therefore leading you to her father."

"Get to the point."

The young man that took Heiss' order arrived; a small plate of ham and bread in one hand, and a mug of mead in the other. Heiss looked at the boy, handed him a few gold pieces and thanked him.

"Where were we? Ah yes. You wanted me to get to the point." Heiss said, cutting off a piece of the ham and putting it in his mouth.

"Still do." Galen droned.

"Very well. Makya and I are part of an organization, and I believe that it could benefit from your services."

"A small fight with a few criminals is hardly enough of a test to want to recruit me."

"Makya has a keen eye for potential, and he says that you have the most potential that he's seen in a long time."

"Potential is just that: potential. It's skill and experience that matter in the end." Galen stated, finishing his meal.

"Wise words for one so young." Heiss observed.

"My father told me that. Potential is just a way of saying that someone _can_ do something. Skill and experience is that person's ability to actually _do_ it."

"Your father is a wise man indeed." Heiss said, approval in his tone.

Galen narrowed his eyes and said, "I appreciate the offer to hire me, but I have more important things to do."

"Such as finding Lyn?" Heiss questioned, a mischievous glint in his eye.

Galen's eyes widened slightly at Heiss' question. "…How?"

"I have many, many ways to get information. It is truly a shame, what happened to your tribe."

"It's been a few days since that happened, so it's no surprise that word would spread. If I were to join you, what's in it for me?"

"And there's the number one question of business," Heiss said, taking another bite of his ham. He swallowed and looked at Galen in the eye. "We can help you find your lost friend."

" _If_ I help you." Galen interrupted.

"Not just help us: join us."

"I'm sorry, but unless I know more about you and your little 'group,' I'll have to decline your offer. I'm not going to join something just because an old man that I don't know asked me to."

Heiss nodded and finished his ham, slowly starting on the bread. "I'm not too surprised that you would want to do some research on us first. When you go back to your room, you should find a few scrolls in your bag that will tell you more about us. Should you decide to join us, this scroll will allow you to contact me."

Heiss reached into his coat and pulled out a small scroll, and slid it across the table. Galen hesitated, but picked up the scroll, putting it in a pouch on his belt. He looked up to continue talking with Heiss, but the old man was gone. _…That was weird._ he thought.

He left his table and walked back upstairs to see that Kent and Sain had just left their room. "Morning, Kent. Morning, Sain."

Kent nodded to Galen, looking fully aware and ready for the day, while Sain looked like he still had a dribble of drool on his face.

"I'll be waiting for you two at the central market." Galen said, sliding into his room before the knights could respond. He walked over to his bag and opened it, seeing a few scrolls in it—just as Heiss said there would. _Hmm…sneaking into a room with two knights in it just to put these in here…Not sure if that's hard or easy. If it was just Sain, then it would be extremely easy. With Kent in the room, however, I suppose it would be much harder._

"I don't trust that man." Ranger said, appearing on a chair.

"I don't either, but he seems to know much more than he lets on. Unless Kent and Sain have talked with him about their mission, there's no way he could know about Lyn." Galen said after he closed the door.

"What happened to to just thinking to me, instead of talking?" Ranger asked.

"There's no one here, and it feels weird to have you reading my thoughts."

Ranger leaned forward in his chair and said, "I can only hear what you want me to."

"It still feels weird to have you read the thoughts you _do_ hear."

Ranger nodded. "Fair enough. Be as it may, I don't think Heiss is trustworthy; not yet."

Galen opened his mouth to respond, but knocking on the door kept him from speaking. "House-keeping. Anyone there?" a feminine voice asked.

Galen looked at Ranger before walking over to the door and opening it. "I'm almost ready to go, but my companions are just now eating. We'll be on our way as soon as possible." he said to the maid.

Sharing his vision with Ranger, he could see the maid nod and move on to the next door. After waiting long enough for most people to have responded, she opened the door and gasped, clearly wanting to scream.

Seeing that something wasn't right, Galen peeked out into the hallway and said, "Is everything alright, ma'am?"

The maid's lips moved, but no sound came out. Galen peered into the room to see what could only be described as bloody murder. Blood splatters were on the floor, the walls, and a little bit was even on the ceiling. He looked at the maid and said, "Go tell your boss what happened, and get some guards over here."

The maid took in a wavering breath and nodded, quickly running downstairs.

Galen drew Kaolin's dagger and walked into the room, ready to defend himself if whoever did this was still in the room. Ranger phased in next to him and said, "It seems that our killer has already left."

Ranger pointed at an open window, letting his shared vision highlight blood red footprints. "A murder this messy…Surely there will be something that will make the killer easy to track."

 _That'll be his last mistake._ Galen thought. He turned around on hearing someone entering the room. "Makya." he said, nodding his head in acknowledgement.

Makya motioned to a few guards to keep people out of the room and closed the door. "What are you doing here?"

"I was just passing by when a worker found this mess."

"I see."

Galen tilted his head toward the window. "Whoever did this clearly did not think that blood would get on his feet."

Makya knelt over the bloody footprints and noted that they whoever the killer was, he walked around barefoot. _Odd. I don't think most people could stomach having blood on their foot…Then again, this kind of murder doesn't look like something most people could do._ he thought.

"Up for a hunt?" he asked, looking at Galen.

"I'll have to let my companions know."

"They aren't your friends?"

"I'm not sure what they are. They claim they are looking for the same person as I, so I'm working with them for the time being."

Makya nodded and walked over to the window frame, peering down at the streets below. He leaned back into the room and turned around to see that Galen was running at him.

"Whoa!"

Makya leapt to the side, reaching for his sword, but Galen leapt through the window, landing on the streets and taking off, seeming to be following something. Shaking his head, Makya ran out of the inn and tried to chase after Galen, thinking that the Lorca was on the killer's trail. _Either that, or he is really good at hiding something._ _I know that he impressed me with that gang yesterday, but I think Heiss overreacted over my report._ He thought as he ran after Galen.

"Galen, wait up!" he yelled over the sound of the crowds. Galen seemed to ignore his voice, but he found himself catching up with the Lorca.

Ranger spoke to Galen from within his mind. "Makya is calling out to you, you know."

 _I know; but the sooner we find that murderer, the better._ Galen thought, following the glowing footprints.

"That murderer isn't going anywhere. I do not trust Makya or Heiss; but I don't think antagonizing them would be a good idea either." Ranger stated.

Galen ignored the Wraith and suddenly turned into an alley to keep following the footprints. He almost ran to the other end of the alleyway until he saw that the footprints disappeared. _Hmm…Where'd he go?_ he thought.

"Look out!" Ranger yelled, leaping out of Galen's back to block a jagged dagger from behind.

Galen quickly turned around to see a hooded man, and quickly kicked the man, leaping back and drawing his sword. He was almost certain that if he could the man's face, he would see a face of shock at what just happened. The hooded man quickly turned and ran back the way Galen came; but Makya ran out in front of the man, with the hooded man crashing into him. The two men fell down, with the hooded man scrambling to his feet and starting to run again.

Ranger quickly readied his bow and shot at the hooded man's right leg, making him cry out in pain and fall back down to the ground.

Galen ran at the hooded man and harshly yanked him up from the ground. "You're going to rot in jail." he growled.

"I didn't do anything!" the man shouted in a rough accent.

"Explain the blood on your feet _and_ why you tried to attack me." Galen replied, taking the man's dagger from him, and putting the man's arms behind his back.

Makya stood back up and walked over to Galen and the hooded man, a small rope in his hands. "Here. This might work better."

Galen nodded and took the rope, tying the man's hands together by the wrists. He walked over in front of the man and said, "Let's see the face behind that murder." He grabbed the man's hood and pulled it off to reveal something that could never be mistaken for a human. The instant the hood came off, however, the creature roared in pain and disintegrated into ash

"What the hell was that thing?!" Makya exclaimed.

"That…was an Orc."

Makya's eyebrows creased in confusion and he looked at Galen. "A what?"

"An Orc. They were an ancient, twisted mockery of another race from centuries ago."

Makya's eyebrows practically fused in his confusion. "That makes no sense."

"Would you call that thing a human? I sure wouldn't." Galen replied.

"Well…I suppose you're right. It still sounds farfetched though."

"That's what I used to think, too."

"…I'm not going to ask."

Galen's eyes gazed around to see that a small crowd was beginning to gather, many whispering about what had happened. It may have not been the first time the people of Bulgar had seen criminals chased down; but having said criminal dissolve into ash was certainly a first for all.

Makya waved his hands dismissively and said, "As you were, citizens. Official SpecInct. business."

With that said, the crowd slowly began to disperse, leaving Galen to look at Makya. "SpecInct?"

"It's short for Special Intelligence. We're a small group that started out here, and we've managed to get on the city's good side."

"What do you do?" Galen asked.

Makya looked around and said, "This isn't the best place to talk about this. Perhaps we could talk back where you were staying?"

"Kent and Sain will want to know who you are."

"You can just pretend that I'm a friend of yours."

Rolling his eyes, Galen turned around and began to walk back to the inn, Makya walking alongside him.

"Does the name Heiss mean anything to you?" Galen asked, sidestepping a horse-mounted guard and then walking back to Makya.

"You've heard of him?" Makya asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"He met me this morning."

"Truly? It's not like him to meet someone so soon after an encounter…" Makya mused.

"If Heiss is a bald old man who likes the color red a little too much, then we're talking of the same person."

"That sounds like him." Makya muttered, opening the door to _The Salty Wolf_. The two men entered the inn to see something that they would likely never un-see.

"Is he…doing what I think he's doing to him?" Makya asked, jaw dropping to the floor.

Galen shook his head and said, "Oi, Sain, Kent! What in the gods' names are you doing?!"

Kent and Sain quickly stood up from the floor, with a smaller person standing up. Looking at the third person, Galen saw that it was the maid that first saw the murder scene from earlier. "I think I know what happened." he said.

"I can explain!" Sain protested.

"If I were to guess, you saw this maid, decided to try flirting with her, Kent tried to make you stop, but something happened that made all three of you fall on top of each other in a most…suggestive position." Galen droned.

"That's not…Actually, that's pretty much what happened." Sain sheepishly admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Sain, you lout! If you hadn't decided to flirt with this woman while she was working, then this would never have happened." Kent scolded.

Makya briefly looked at Galen. "These two are your companions?"

"Sadly."

Galen walked over to the woman, who was still trying to pick up the cleaning supplies that she had dropped. "Here, let me help you." he said, picking up a broom, a bucket, and a few bars of soap.

The maid smiled at him and took the items from him. "Thank you, sir," she said. She hesitated before speaking again. "Did you find whoever did…that?"

Galen nodded in understanding. "Yes, and he won't be doing anything again."

Sain and Kent looked at Galen in confusion. "What did we miss?" Sain asked, thinking that something else happened between Galen and the maid.

"Probably not what you're thinking," Galen quipped. "Apparently, there was a murder in the room next to ours."

"What?!" Kent and Sain both exclaimed.

"The maid that Sain was likely bothering found the murder after moving on from our room and found it. I looked around a little bit until this guard came along. We found a trail that we believed would lead us to the murderer; and find him, we did." Galen explained.

"Who was the murderer? Better yet, who were his victims?" Kent asked.

"Not 'his' victims, 'its.'"

"And animal did it?"

"You could say that." Galen replied.

"Galen, what aren't you telling us?" Kent sternly asked.

"…It was an Orc."

"Those things that attacked us?"

"No, just a normal Orc. It was wearing a hood, but disintegrated when it was exposed to the sun."

"So if that's a normal Orc, then what attacked us near your home?" Sain asked, creasing his eyebrows.

"I wished this weren't true, but I think they were Uruk-hai." Galen answered.

"What's the difference?"

"Uruks are basically better versions of Orcs. They can resist the sun much better than any Orc could. There are ways for Orcs to walk around in the sun, but they pretty much have to keep their entire body covered. Uruks don't have that problem."

"So the ones we fought were Uruks." Kent stated.

"Yes."

"This is confusing." Sain commented.

Makya cleared his throat, getting their attention. "Galen, we still have to talk."

"Of course." Galen looked back at the two Caelin knights and said, "I'm sorry, but can we hold off just a little bit longer on leaving? I know that we might be pressed for time, but can we hold off just a little bit longer? I might be able to get some help in finding Lyn."

Kent and Sain looked at each other, but nodded to Galen. "Go ahead." Kent said, grabbing the back of Sain's collar and dragging him backward. "You're staying right next to me, you lout."

Galen and Makya sat down at one of the tables, with Galen briefly noting that they were seated at the same table that Heiss had met him. "Alright, Makya, let's finish what we started."

"Straight to the point. You'll fit in quite nicely."

" _If_ I join."

"Details. Details." Makya replied dismissively.

"Just tell me what you want."

"What _we_ want is for you to join us. The question is, do _you_ want to join us?"

"…Tell me more about SpecInct first."

"Were you not given scrolls?" Makya asked.

"I didn't have time to read them because of the Orc."

Makya nodded in understanding and put a hand to his chin. "Where to start…" he muttered. "Let's start off with what you know about us, and I'll fill in the blanks."

Seeing no reason not to comply, Galen began to tell Makya what he knew of Special Intelligence. "You're an organization that was founded by Heiss to gather information on gangs and other criminal organizations by infiltrating them. That's just about all I know."

"And that is SpecInct in a nutshell."

"Why would you need my skills? I'm a terrible liar." Galen stated.

"Sabotage and spy work isn't the only thing that we do. Agents like me are the 'muscle' so to speak. Once we have sufficient intel on a gang, we send in people like me to bring the guards and…dispatch of the gang. It sounds like you'll be traveling quite a bit; but if your search for Lyn proves fruitful, you'll be heading for Caelin."

"Something tells me you want that to happen."

"Heiss has been looking to expand out of Sacae and make a difference in other nations. Due to the way that the Lycian League is set up, Heiss knows that it's extremely important that we establish a good foothold for our organization. With Caelin's rather central location in Lycia, it makes for an excellent candidate for us to make our move."

"What about Ostia, or Pharae? Would those not be better places to start?" Galen asked. "Also, wouldn't some nations see it as an invasion if nomads suddenly showed up where we are not welcome?

"In a way, we are invading. It's the criminal underworld that we are attacking, however." Makya said with a small, humored smile.

"So if I join you, I won't have to do any sneaking around? Just muscling my way through everything?"

"You might have to have _some_ semblance of stealth, but with the intel you'll get, you'll be able to know where the gang guards are, how long they'll be there, and when their shifts change. If sneaking in would not work, then you can always rally the guards."

"…Help me to find Lyn, and then I'll consider your offer on our way to Caelin." Galen said.

Makya sadly shook his head. "I'm afraid that Heiss doesn't work that way. You either accept now, or you'll receive no assistance in your search, and likely never hear from us again."

"Your leader is quite a man of absolutes." Galen observed.

"That may be true, but he gets results."

Galen was silent for a few minutes, pondering what his decision should be. _Ranger? You're technically part of me now, so what do you think?_

Ranger appeared next to Galen, looking out of a window. "…Do what you will. We may be one and the same now, but you're the one making the decisions. I'm simply just along for the ride." Ranger replied.

Galen stared at where Ranger was sitting, not sure if he truly spoke his mind. _What do you_ really _think about this, Ranger?_

"If I were to tell you, you'd probably not want to talk to me anymore."

 _That bad?_

Makya cleared his throat. "I'm sure that what's going on in the street right now is very interesting, but we don't have all day. Will you join us? Or will we go our separate ways?"

Galen remained silent for a few more seconds before looking back at the agent. "I'll join…On one condition."

"Name it."

"I can leave your group at any time after Lyn has met her grandfather. SpecInct doesn't seem to be the type of organization that likes people leaving." Galen said.

"I'd be lying if I said that we try whatever we can to keep our members, but if that is your condition, than who am I to refuse?" Makya replied. He extended a hand toward Galen and smiled. "Welcome to the family."

"Don't say that. It makes me feel like I just joined a cult." Galen droned, a small smirk on his face.

Makya stood up from the table and said, "Since you are now one of us, I suppose someone needs to go with you. Heiss told me to accompany you should you join us."

Galen shrugged and stood up, walking toward Kent and Sain. "Well…The more the merrier, I guess."

 **And that marks the end of the third chapter. Feel free to tell me what ya think.**

… **Angel was a more messed up show than I remembered. Of course, I'm older now, but I don't know how I didn't notice some of this stuff. Also, who do you think would win in a fight: Geralt of Rivia, or Talion of Gondor?**


	5. Chapter 4

**And here is the newest chapter to FESoS.**

 **Here's their level, equipment, and weapon skill ranks.**

 **Galen** **, Ranger, LV: 3**

 **Weapon Rank: Swords: D, Bows: E**

 **Equipment: Urfael, Kaolin's Dagger, Vulnerary (3),**

 **Ranger, Wraith, LV: 15**

 **Weapon Rank: Swords: S, Bows: S, Dark Magic: B**

 **Equipment: Spectral Sword, Spectral Bow.**

 **Powers: Wraith Vision, Drain.**

 **Kent, Cavalier. LV: 1**

 **Weapon Rank: Swords: E, Lances: D**

 **Equipment: Iron Sword, Iron lance, Vulnerary (3).**

 **Sain, Cavalier. LV: 1**

 **Weapon Rank: Swords: E, Lances: D**

 **Equipment: Iron Lance.**

 **Makya, Myrmidon. LV: 5**

 **Weapon Rank: Swords: C**

 **Equipment: Killing Edge.**

 **Yes, Makya will be going with them. I'll still try to keep the amount of OCs as low as I can.**

 **Chapter 4: Curse of the Wicked**

 _Their business in Bulgar concluded, Galen, Kent, and Sain prepared to leave after gathering some supplies; but crossed paths with a man named Makya. SpecInct, an anti-crime organization that Makya works for, offered to hire Galen for a mission in exchange for help with finding Lyndis._

With their final preparations finally done, the group of four left Bulgar to continue the search for Lyn. They wandered the plains for many days, often being forced to trade with nearby villages after much persuasion on Makya's part that it was okay for the villagers to trade with the knights.

"We should probably think about rationing or be more conservative with our supplies," Galen commented after a period of silence in the group. "We can't stop in villages so often. It'll likely bring attention to the fact that two Lycian knights are traveling with two nomads—one of which is one of the only survivors of his tribe." _I should still be dead too. Did I mention that?_ he thought.

Ranger chuckled and appeared next to Galen's horse. "You seem to be fine with the concept of dying."

 _Well, I've already come back once. Can't be any different than that first time._

"Galen!" Makya's exclaimed, snapping his fingers in front of the pseudo-immortal's face.

"What?! What'd I miss?!" Galen asked, putting a hand to Urfael's hilt.

Sain snorted and put a hand over his mouth to hide his smile.

"We were just answering you, but you seemed a little distant." Kent said.

"Oh. I was just…lost in thought. Sorry about that." Galen muttered.

 _See what you did, Ranger? Quit talking to me just after I say something to someone else!_

Ranger didn't reply, opting for a silent smirk before fading.

"Considering what's happened to you, I can't say I blame you for thinking a lot." Kent said sympathetically.

"Kent…Don't. That's not what I was thinking about."

"Ah. forgive me."

"It's alright, Kent. I've had a lot to think about."

"Go ahead and tell us. It's not healthy to bottle it up." Sain said.

"…My tribe was destroyed by monsters, and one of the only other survivors turns out to be royalty. That last part still baffles me."

"Monsters don't confuse you, yet part of the origin of your tribesmen does?" Makya asked.

"We've known about Orcs for a long time but figured that since no one knew how to create them, they were no longer a threat. Why worry about something that would never happen?"

"You knew about Orcs?" Makya asked.

"How else would I even know what they're called?"

"About that. We still don't really know much about this 'lost history' that you claim your people knew about." Kent stated.

Galen gazed over the open plains and sighed. "…I suppose we have the time for it."

The other three moved their horses a little closer to Galen's horse to be able to hear him better.

"Long ago, the world as we knew it used to be called Middle-Earth. As it turns out, we weren't the only people that walked this world. There were the Elves, a graceful race that were masters of many things: combat, smithing, archery, magic. You name it, there was an elf who was a master of the trade. There was not a single elf that looked repulsive. Their ugliest could still keep up with mankind's most beautiful."

Kent and Makya nodded to Galen's words, while Sain's mind seemed to have broken. The thought of a race of people who's ugliest could trump humanity's most beautiful left him thinking of the beautiful maidens he had missed out on.

"There were the Dwarves, a short people by our standards, but many of them could drink people more than twice their size under the table. Where they lacked the grace of elves and the…height of everyone else, they more than made up for it in their keen eyes for treasures and hunting. Their greatest city was built into one of the largest mountains in the land, and they owned more treasure than they knew what to do with. There were other clans of dwarves, of course, but that kingdom was what many thought of when they thought of the dwarves' home."

Makya scoffed. "All this talk of elves and dwarves; it reeks of fantasy."

"You can doubt it, but they were real." Galen replied.

"If they were real, then where are they?"

"The elves and dwarves were wiped out by the dragons." Galen answered.

"Convenient." Makya said.

"If you don't want to hear about it, then don't listen."

"There's nothing else to do."

"Fine then! Look for Lyn!" Galen snapped.

Kent and Sain nervously glanced between the two Sacaens, and slowly drifted their horses away from them. On seeing that nothing else was going to be said, Kent cleared his throat and said, "There's a house over there. Perhaps we should go and see if anyone's home? Maybe ask some questions?"

"I wouldn't. Most folks who live by themselves out on the plains have either gone mad, or practice magic of some sort." Makya stated.

"City-folks still believe that?" Galen scoffed.

"Still believe what?" Kent asked.

"What Makya just said. It's just a misconception that since they don't understand nomads or hermits."

"So you think whoever lives there is just a hermit?" Makya questioned.

"If it is a hermit, I'm sure whoever it is won't mind some human company for a few minutes," Galen replied, guiding his horse toward the house. "And by the way, it's called a 'ger', not a 'house'!" he yelled, looking over his shoulder.

The others looked at each other, shrugged, and followed the Lorca to the ger. They all dismounted and approached the ger. When they were a few feet from the entrance, Galen said, "Let me handle this," He looked back at the entrance and said, "Is anyone home?"

A few seconds of silence were met, but a voice soon said, "Yes…Who are you?"

Galen quickly shared his vision with Ranger to see how many people were inside. _Two people. One of them is standing by the entrance, and the other is sitting in a chair. Neither of them seem to be holding any weapons._ he thought before cutting off his advanced vision.

"My name is Galen. I have three people with me: Makya of Bulgar, and Kent and Sain of Lycia."

"What business do you have here?"

"We're looking for someone."

"…Come on in."

Galen slowly walked into the ger, making his movements as deliberate as possible. In the ger was a man and a young girl.

"Thank you for letting us in." Galen said, bowing his head.

The man nodded and gestured to a small table. "Please. Sit down."

Galen, Makya, Kent, and Sain all sat down at the table. The man looked at the girl and said, "Could you bring our guests some drinks?"

The girl nodded and walked to a different part of the ger.

"That's my daughter, in case you were wondering," the man said. "My name is Pachu'a, and my daughter is Kaya"

"A pleasure to meet you." Galen said, offering a smile.

"Tell me what you're here for." Pachu'a said, not smiling back. It was pretty clear that he was not interested in small talk or company.

"We're looking for a girl named Lyn. She's of the Lorca tribe." Galen replied, seeing that Pachu'a wanted them to leave as soon as possible.

"The Lorca were wiped out."

"We're aware of that, but we have reason to believe that she is still alive." Kent stated.

"And what is this reason?"

"We never found a body." Kent answered.

"You searched among the dead?" Pachu'a asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Kaya walked over to the group, a plate of five cups of tea in her hands. She gently set the cups down in on the table, with Galen and Makya bowing their heads in thanks.

Kent and Sain took a small sip of the tea, with Kent looking at Kaya. "What tea is this?" he asked, only for Kaya to point to her lips and shake her head.

Galen took a sip of the tea and nodded in approval. "This is Blue Milk Tea if I'm not mistaken?"

Kaya nodded at Galen's guess and smiled at him.

Pachu'a nervously shifted in his seat and said, "You'll have to forgive her. She lost her voice at a young age."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Sain sympathized.

"Don't be. You weren't there, and there was nothing that could be done…Now tell me why you think this 'Lyn' of yours is still alive." Pachu'a said.

"We found her village in ruins, but we never found her body. This leaves us to think it was either taken for some reason, or she is still very much alive." Kent answered, taking another sip of tea.

"What does she look like?" Pachu'a asked.

"She's eighteen years old; has long green hair that she usually ties into a ridiculously long pony-tail; green eyes; and unless she's changed them since then, wears Lorca robes." Galen answered.

"…Never seen her. I'd remember seeing her."

"I…I see. Thank you for your time." Galen said, slowly standing up and heading for the exit.

Once he had left the ger, Kent bowed his head to Pachu'a. "You'll have to forgive him. We believe that he and this girl are the only two remaining Lorca."

"I understand why he wants to see her, but that boy will need to learn patience. I could practically feel his frustration when he left."

With that said, Kent, Sain, and Makya bid farewell to Pachu'a and Kaya and headed for their horses—only to see that Galen was already mounting his horse.

Once the four men were mounted and heading away, Sain opened his mouth to ask something. "What's Blue Milk Tea?"

Kent looked at Sain in disbelief. "Really? Everything that happened in there, and you're worried about what kind of _tea_ we drank?!"

"What? It's a valid question!"

Before a potential argument broke out, Galen spoke up, interrupting the two knights. "It's tea made from a Blue Milk mushroom."

"A mushroom?"

"It's rather hard to find, but it's as useful as it is rare. A single mushroom can keep you from getting hungry for up to half a day, and it is very useful in medicines. Honestly, If they were more common, you'd probably see them in vulneraries."

"How come I've never heard of this? A mushroom that can keep people from going hungry for that much time sounds like something that would be greatly desired." Makya said.

"It's a very rare mushroom. That's why." Galen replied.

"Hey, what are those folks doing over there?" Sain asked, pointing ahead of them to a small group of men that seemed to have their backs facing them.

"Don't know. We're too far away to tell." Kent answered.

"Perhaps we could ask them if they have seen Lyn?" Galen asked.

"It couldn't hurt." Makya replied.

The four rode over to the group of men, but something seemed out of place. Ranger appeared next to Galen's horse and said, "Caution, Galen. Something's not right here."

 _We'll be careful._

"Excuse me, good sirs!" Kent called out, making the men turn around. "May we talk to you?" Kent continued.

"What's it ta ya?" one of the men yelled back.

With the four coming much closer to the men, yelling was no longer needed. "We're looking for someone."

"Who're ya looking fer?" the man asked.

"She's a member of my tribe," Galen answered. "Looks about eighteen; long green hair; green eyes; and wears Lorca robes. You seen her?"

The men whispered amongst each other, and then the man spoke up. "No. We ain't seen anyone like that…If we did, well, we might've sold her."

Galen clenched his teeth. _Slavers?_

"Told you I had a bad feeling about them." Ranger muttered.

"Oh…you're probably those 'all-mighty' do-gooders ain't ya? Well we can't 'ave that now! Get 'em boys!" the man yelled, drawing his sword.

Galen and Makya leapt off of their horses, with their mounts running away a good distance. Kent and Sain reared their horses back and charged at the men, with Kent drawing his sword and Sain readying his lance.

As Galen rushed at the slavers, Ranger's voice echoed in his mind. "I think I found out a way to—."

 _Not now, Ranger._ Galen interrupted with a slight growl.

Kent and Sain reached the slavers before Galen and Makya did. Kent slashed downward on one of the slavers, deeply wounding the man before veering toward another man. Just before the slavers surrounded him, Kent urged his horse to pull out of the fight, turning around for another run. As his horse galloped back into the fray, his sword cut down two more slavers.

Sain impaled one man with his lance, pulled it out and then struck a man on the other side of his horse. He urged his horse to keep running, trampling another slaver and possibly breaking some bones if the cries of pain were anything to go by. He turned his horse around and ran at a few more men, stabbing his lance into some, while smashing the side of it into others.

Once Galen and Makya reached the slavers, even more of them started to fall. Makya swiftly ran between three of the slavers, leaving deep gashes in their chests once he passed. Another slaver tried to hit the agent from behind, but he whipped around and countered the attack, breaking the man's arm before stabbing his sword deep into his chest.

No sooner did he pull his sword out of the man's chest did he move on to two more slavers. The two slavers tried to hit him at the same time, but Makya ducked under one sword then leapt up with a downward sword swing ready to end the life of one of the slavers, only to have to block another attack. He grabbed the third slaver and threw him to the ground, quickly stabbing his sword into the man's spine.

Galen lunged at the slaver that spoke with them, trying to stab the man and move on, but the slaver deflected the blow. Galen tried to follow up with a horizontal attack, but the man jumped back from the sword, quickly leaping toward Galen and getting in a few slashes. The slaver's attacks were wild and somewhat sloppy, but it was his bad form that made Galen realize that he would have to fight a little dirty.

The slaver charged at Galen, his sword raised over his head for his next attack. Before their swords connected, Galen rolled to the slaver's left side, leaving a shallow wound in the man's side. _Just have to wear him down first._ he thought.

The slaver stumbled and put a hand to the small cut. "Hmm…It's been a while since anyone ever hit me. Tell ya what: I tell you my name, and you tell me yours."

"…Galen."

"Well, Galen, congratulations! Yer the first person to have hit Grognash in over five years! That hurt, you know, so I'll 'ave to kill ya now!" Grognash yelled, rushing at Galen and ramming his shoulder into him. Galen quickly rolled out of the way and got back on his feet.

Before he could do anything more, his right hand reach out toward Grognash, a familiar power flowing through his hands. What was strange was that Grognash seemed to be affected by the power.

"Ah! Aaaaaah! Aaaaah! Aah!"

Once Galen felt the flow of the power stop, Galen shook his head. He felt…refreshed—Disgustingly refreshed. Quickly pushing the strange feeling from his mind, he ram at the heavily disoriented Grognash and rammed his sword into his gut.

The pain of the sword seemed to bring him out of his daze as he stared at the sword in disbelief. "…How can…this be? I've never…been hit in five years, only for a… _whelp_ to end my life." he groaned as he slowly fell backwards. From the looks of it, he seemed to have died before even hitting the ground

"They fight like bloody demons!" one of the remaining slavers yelled.

"I'm not payed enough to die! I'm gettin' outta here!" another slaver yelled, turning around to run away, quickly followed by a few others.

"Yeah, you'd _better_ run!" Makya yelled waving his sword in a taunting manner.

Galen stared back at his right hand, wondering what happened to Grognash _Ranger, was that power your doing?_

"It was. That was what I wanted to talk to you about. I found out that using the life-blood of others, new arrows can be formed in an instant."

 _First, you can gaze into the minds of others, now you can drain people of their life for_ arrows _?! What the hell kind of powers are these?!_ Galen thought.

"I do not know. In any case, I believe that we can test out how to make _you_ use the power to replenish my arrows."

 _No! I am not using…whatever your power is! You find another way to refill your quiver! This kind of power sickens me!_

Ranger looked down in shame. "I was afraid that you might think of it that way. Could you really live, knowing that you could stop those fleeing slavers, but did nothing?"

 _I don't care! They're scattered and not a harm to anyone!_

"They'll regroup later. Their kind always does."

… _Fine. But only this once!_ Galen said, focusing on letting Ranger form his bow. The world slowed down once more, with Ranger pulling back the first arrow. He lined up where the arrow would go with the head of the furthest slaver. He let go of the bow string, nearly instantly piercing the man's skull. If he wasn't seeing everything in slow-motion, Galen was sure that everyone would have reacted to the now-dead slaver. The last two slavers seemed to be slowly jumping back in fear and confusion, but Ranger quickly shot at the remaining two slavers. His work done, Ranger cut off his power from Galen, with everything going back to normal.

Kent and Sain exchanged looks on seeing the glowing blue arrows again, but said nothing. Makya on the other hand, looked at the dead slavers in shock. "Who shot those arrows?"

"I don't know." Galen said, trying to sound as confused as his companions.

"First the Orcs in the forest, now here. Has someone been following us this whole time?" Sain mused.

"This has happened before?" Makya asked.

"Yes," Kent answered, sheathing his sword. Whoever it is, he's amazing with a bow. Did you see how quickly those men fell? I'm starting to think that it's more than one man."

"Either way, he or they seem to want to help."

"But who would do that? Why not show us who they are?" Sain asked.

Ironically, Ranger formed himself right in front of Sain, a humored smile on his face. "I would show myself but…you kind of can't see me."

Galen coughed and looked away to hide his quick smile at Ranger's joke. _And I thought you couldn't make jokes._

"I have my moments." Ranger said before fading.

"Either way, those slavers won't be enslaving anyone ever again." Makya stated, sheathing his sword.

Galen stared at the road ahead of them, slowly sheathing his own sword. "There's a village over there. I think we may very well have saved those people."

"Truly?" Kent asked, looking to where Galen was facing. "Dear gods, I think you are right."

"We haven't been this way yet, so hopefully, we can ask around for any leads on Lyn." Sain commented.

Galen and Makya strode to where their horses were until Makya slowed down a bit. Galen walked a few more paces before realizing this. "Something wrong?" he asked, turning around.

"No. This village has a few SpecInct agents there, so hopefully, I can see if Heiss found any information on Lyndis." Makya answered.

"You sound like you don't want to go to this village." Galen observed.

Makya shrugged and continued walking to the horses. "Me and another agent there…We don't get along very well."

"I can talk to them in your stead, if you'd like." Galen offered.

"No. I would have to introduce you to them first, otherwise, they won't speak with you."

"Why not?"

Makya gently patted his horse and looked at Galen. "You have not been officially instated yet. You don't have our signature weapon."

"I don't understand. What is this weapon you speak of?"

"All in due time, Galen." Makya said, mounting his horse and having it trot over to Kent and Sain.

Galen creased his eyebrows in confusion, but shook that thought out of his mind. He checked his saddle bags to ensure everything was still there. Seeing that everything was in order, he mounted his horse and went over to the others. "Is everyone ready?" he asked. Getting nods from the others, Galen took the lead and led the group to the village.

As they rode toward the village, Ranger formed and jogged alongside Galen's horse. "Galen, I want to apologize to you about—"

 _It's okay, Ranger. Just don't let it happen again._ Galen mentally replied. After looking at Ranger running for a few seconds. _Is what you're doing a Wraith thing, or could you always do that?_ he asked.

"I've always been fast. Not being capable of getting tired or fatigued anymore certainly does wonders to what you can do."

 _I can imagine._ Galen thought, looking ahead to see that the village was slowly getting larger and larger.

Sain's voice broke Galen out of his thoughts. "So, Galen, tell us more about your stories. Were there other kinds of people back then other than Elves and Dwarves?"

"Yes, actually. There were Hobbits, which were about the same height as Dwarves, but they were a more peaceful people. There were very few Hobbits that left their homes, with even fewer doing anything of significance. The only few things that the stories spoke of were two Hobbits in particular: Bilbo and Frodo Baggins."

"Those are odd names." Kent muttered.

"Our names would be considered just as odd by them." Galen replied.

"I'm assuming that Bilbo and Frodo were related somehow." Makya stated.

"I believe that Bilbo 'adopted' Frodo after his parents died in a boating accident."

"Well, what did those two do?"

"Bilbo helped the Dwarves to reclaim their homeland from a dragon," Galen said, pausing to see his companions' reactions. "And Frodo helped to rid the world of one of a threat that would make the dragons seem tame."

"What could possibly be more dangerous than a dragon?" Makya scoffed.

"You'd be surprised. Just about everything we know about how the world works, was completely different back then." Galen replied as they entered the village.

A few of the villagers stared at the four, curious as to what would bring two Sacaens from different tribes and two knights to their home.

Galen dismounted his horse and slowly approached one of the villagers. "Do you know where your chieftain is?" he asked.

"Our chieftain died a few days ago protecting us from a bandit attack," the villager said sadly. "His wife is currently in charge of the tribe until their son comes of age."

"Can you take me to her?" Galen asked, not questioning the unusual decision to go against Sacaen tradition. _Then again, this tribe might have different traditions from mine._ he reminded himself.

"Of course. Right this way." the villager said, walking further into the village. Galen turned to Kent and Sain and said, "Makya and I should probably handle this. You two wait here."

Sain opened his mouth to protest until his eyes fell upon a small group of attractive women. He made to head over to them, but Kent grabbed the back of his collar and yanked his green-clad friend backward. "You are getting back on your horse, and you are staying on your horse. Got that?" he harshly ordered. Sain bowed his head in compliance and mounted back on his horse, often sneaking a glance at the women when he thought Kent wasn't looking.

Galen and Makya followed the man through the village until they arrived at a decently sized ger. "The chief's wife is in there," the man said, gesturing to the ger. "Be careful though. She's been in mourning for some time, and very few people have gone in or out—mostly her son."

"We'll keep that in mind," Makya said as he approached the ger. "Hello? Is anyone in there?" he announced.

A few seconds of silence was met by a soft voice. "Who is it?"

"We're travelers just passing through. We heard about your husband and wanted to give you our condolences." Makya answered.

"…Come in."

Makya and Galen entered the ger and saw a woman and a young boy inside.

"You are the travelers?" the woman asked.

Galen respectfully bowed his head and said, "Yes. I am Galen of the Lorca, and this is Makya of Bulgar."

The woman's eyebrows raised at the mention of the Lorca, but she said nothing. "Why have you come?"

"We were just passing through," Makya answered, also bowing his head. _I should probably ask Galen how nomads behave for this stuff._ he thought before continuing. "We were also hoping for some information."

"What kind of information?" the woman asked.

"We're looking for someone, but we don't know where she is." Galen said.

"Tell me who you are looking for," the woman said. "Oh…Please, sit down." she added, bowing her head in embarrassment.

Galen and Makya slowly sat down on the floor, with Galen crossing his legs and resting his arms on his knees. Makya looked at the way that Galen was sitting and tried to discretely mimic the way that his companion was sitting. Galen hid a small smile at Makya's poor attempt to sit the same way as the rest of the nomads in the room, but ignored it and said, "The woman we're looking for is a Lorca just like me. She has long green hair, emerald-colored eyes, and looks around eighteen years of age."

The woman's eyes widened and said, "I've seen her."

Galen and Makya looked at each other and then back at the acting-chieftain. "Where?"

"She…saved us from a bandit attack. She killed the leader of the bandits and they scattered. Unfortunately, my husband died before your friend could stop the bandit raid." the woman said.

"Is she here? In the village?" Galen asked with a little more excitement than he intended.

"No. She and a man wearing a green cloak headed for Bulgar before traveling."

"Thank you," Galen said. "A thousand blessings upon you for your help!" he added before standing up and almost running out of the ger. Makya stood up and looked at the woman.

"I apologize for my friend's actions. He and that girl are likely the only survivors of their tribe."

"I understand perfectly well his reasons." the woman said.

Makya nodded and turned around to leave the ger. Just before he pushed aside the flaps of the entrance, he turned around to look back at the woman. "I am truly sorry for your loss. Your husband was a good man, even if we had our differences." He turned back around and left the ger, leaving the woman to wonder how this man knew her husband.

Makya looked around the village to see Galen running toward Kent and Sain. _That man needs to learn to slow down and think things through._ he thought, as he quickly walked toward the three.

When Galen reached Kent and Sain he all but leapt onto his horse and grabbed the reins.

"Hold, Galen! what happened to put you in such a rush?" Kent asked, snatching the reins out of Galen's hands.

"I know where Lyn is!" Galen exclaimed.

Sain perked up and said, "Truly? Where is she?"

"She's heading for Bulgar. If we hurry, we could hopefully meet her there!"

Makya arrived to the group and said, "Galen. How do you know this isn't just some other young woman who matches Lyn's description?"

"It's our first lead, and you're questioning it?" Kent asked.

"I'm just saying. Surely, there are other young girls like Lyn."

"I don't care if it doesn't turn out to be her, it's our first lead, and I'm going after it!" Galen snapped, taking the reins from Kent. "I don't think I could live with myself if I found out that we were close to finding Lyn, but we never tried."

Makya slowly shook his head and mounted his horse. "Very well. It seems that I don't have the majority vote here…I need to report to Heiss anyway." he said, muttering the last part.

The four snapped the reins of their mounts, slowly leading their horses out of the village. Once they were out of the village and in open plains, their horses were urged into a full gallop.

Sain tried to speak with Galen about Lyn, but the sound of their horses prevented a coherent conversation from happening. A few hours passed, and they had to give their horses a rest. Galen led the group to a small pond and dismounted his horse, leading it to the water to drink.

"We should also eat and drink something as well." he stated, pulling a saddlebag off his horse. He reached into the bag and pulled out a loaf of bread and a flask of water. The group wandered a little way from their horses to a nearby tree and sat in the shade of its leaves.

"So Sain, what was it you tried to ask me about?" Galen asked.

"I was wondering about those stories of yours," Sain replied, taking a quick sip of water. "What could possibly rival the power of dragons?"

Galen took a small bite out of his bread and said, "A being named Sauron."

Kent's eyebrows creased as he repeated the name. "Sauron?"

"You've heard of him?" Galen asked.

"I think so. I believe there was a book in Caelin's library that had mention of a 'Sauron.'"

"What was the book called?" Galena asked.

"I've never read it. I've just heard another knight mention it in passing. I've never heard anything else about it."

 _I guess it would make sense that a few things about Middle-earth existed outside of my tribe; but to hear that an entire book survived the centuries is…amazing._ Galen thought. "Sauron made two attempts at taking over Middle-Earth, both of which were dangerously close to success."

"How close?" Sain asked.

"It all fell down to a single Ring. It was that close." Galen answered.

"Is that a Sacaen metaphor?" Kent asked.

Galen shook his head. "No. It literally centered on one ring," he said, taking in the confused faces of his compatriots. "Sauron had a very good plan for taking over. He convinced the elves to help him forge rings and imbue them with power in order to help the other races to survive the harsh conditions of the time."

"How did he do that so easily?" Makya asked.

"Sauron was a master of lies and magic. He used magic to present himself as Annatar, the Lord of Gifts. With this 'fair' form, he showed the elves how to make these rings and give them power."

"What manner of power did these rings get?"

"Of that, I am not completely sure. What we do remember is that having even the weakest of these rings could give you power that could rival Athos the Archsage."

Sain's eyes widened. "Surely you jest!"

Galen hide a small smile behind his hand and said, "Maybe just a little bit. I know for a fact that the most powerful of the rings would make Athos look like a boy who just discovered a Fire Tome."

"To think that such power exists…" Kent muttered. "It sounds like it would drive people mad."

"They do, and they did."

"Was that his plan? To drive people mad with power?" Makya asked. "If so, no wonder this is the first time I've heard of him."

"His _plan_ —" Galen said, making a point of looking at Makya. "—Was to build another ring in secret and use its power to control any who had the other rings."

Kent put a hand to his chin in thought and said, "I see. Give these rings with promises of power to influential leaders and he can put them under his control in an instant."

"If it happened in an instant, we might not be speaking right now. The Elves who were given rings sensed Sauron's betrayal and took off the rings."

"Hold on a second," Sain interrupted. "What manner of magic did Sauron use to make these rings?"

"That, I don't know. It's probably for the best that the method of making rings of power be forgotten forever."

"What of the ring that Sauron mad in secret? Were different magics put into its creation?" Sain asked.

"It was forged in a volcano. That alone could highly influence its power. Sauron also poured so much of his own power into his ring that he would cease to exist if it was destroyed." Galen explained.

"Then why not destroy the ring, instead of him?"

"Many tried, all failed. Sauron's ring could only be destroyed in the very fires that forged it—an idea that would not be carried through until his final defeat."

Before more questions could be asked, Makya stood up and said, "We should be going now. We have rested for long enough."

The other three stood up, nodding with Makya's statement. They walked over to their horses and mounted them. Once they had situated, they sent their horses galloping through the plains toward Bulgar. As they rode, many thoughts passed through their minds.

 _I hope that Lyn is safe. I'll never forgive myself if anything happens to her without me there to help her._

 _I do hope that Milady Lyndis is okay. Losing her tribe that way surely has to have some effect on her._

 _I wonder how beautiful Milady Lyndis is. Hearing Galen describe her puts a flame in my heart over it!_

 _Why am I stuck with these fools? Oh yeah! Because Heiss said so!_

 **I apologize for the shorter chapter, but I wanted to get at least something out there. I'll get to work on the next chapter and put it out as soon as I can.**


End file.
